I love food. I love waking up and eating warm eggo waffles, and going to bed after a slice of pumpkin pie or a bowl of ice cream, and everything in between. A lot of my passing conversation with people is about food too. “Man I’m so ready for lunch,” or “dinner was great, I’m so full.” I know people who just don’t eat breakfast and I don’t understand them at all. When I found out my church was doing an annual fast for three days of October, I wasn’t pumped.
To be fair, we could’ve fasted from anything, but my college pastor challenged me to ask God what to do, and He invited me to fast completely from food and only have water for one day. Maybe it doesn’t sound like a lot, but having never fasted before, I was super worried about it. Leading up to that day I was trying to mentally prepare myself to stay focused during my fast. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6 not to fast simply to show off to others. “But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (verses 17-18). I knew it would be easy for me to say something like “man I’m hungry” just to make conversation.
Long story short, I woke up on the morning of my fast, didn’t eat breakfast, didn’t eat lunch, and before I knew it it was dinner time, and I felt great. I even thought I could go another day if I had to. The only issue was that I didn’t restructure my day so that I would spend time filling myself with the Spirit instead of with food during mealtimes. After breaking my fast and reflecting on the previous day, I realized that, although I didn’t show off to other people that I was fasting, I was sort of showing off to God. I was saying “look God, I can go a whole day without eating just like You said I should, aren’t You proud of me?” I discovered that abstaining from food is only a part of fasting. It’s the means but not the ends, the physical action in order to grow spiritually. We fast from food so that we make more space for God to lead and provide for us. Now that I’m less afraid of not eating, I’m excited to try again next month after planning to spend mealtimes praying, journaling, and listening to worship music.
