Reflection and Awe: Lent's PurposeНамуна

The Principle of Fasting

As we start a new week together, we will look at a new topic: fasting. Maybe you already fast on a regular basis, or perhaps you’ve never thought about it. Over the week, we’ll discover the hows and whys of biblical fasting and some practical ways to adopt it into our lives.

Jesus’ 40-day fast in the wilderness provides the foundational principle for fasting during Lent. Throughout His ministry, Jesus often retreated from the busyness and business of the world to fast and pray, demonstrating the intrinsic connection between the two practices. As we explore fasting, let’s pause to reflect on the meaning behind it and think about why Christians consider it an important activity.

Fasting is not just a physical act, it’s a spiritual discipline.

Fasting helps us align spiritually with God and deepens our connection with Him, rendering a spirit of awe within us for who He is and all He does, has done, and will do. We are made up of three parts—body, soul, and spirit. When we come into a relationship with God at salvation our spirit is made new, as stated in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

While our spirit is made new in Christ, we must bring our physical nature—the body and its desires—and our soulish nature, which includes the mind, will, and emotions, into alignment with God’s will. In reverence of His sovereignty, we surrender fully, allowing Him to reorder our priorities and take His rightful place as the Lord of our lives.

When we fast, we say to our body, mind, will, and emotions that we are no longer in charge and dictating what happens; God is in control. Essentially, fasting reorders the priority list in us. When this happens, our connection with the Lord becomes clearer, our hearts and spiritual ears open wider, and, often, a breakthrough follows.

Have you ever been hangry?—that feeling of cloudiness or frustration when your stomach begins to rumble. It’s a real thing! It’s your body crying out with its need and desire. It’s so easy to prioritize based on whatever is “crying” the loudest. In that sense, the discipline of fasting acts like noise-canceling headphones, blocking the fuzziness and clamor of our earthly pining and making sure that spirit comes first.

As John Piper puts it, “Fasting helps cultivate that spiritual hunger by forcing the hunger issue on us and making us ask if we really do hunger for God.”

As you go about your day today, reflect on this one question: What do I hunger and thirst for? Allow this question to help prepare you for the next step in fasting.

Bless you.