Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Fasting

Is your heart longing for something more today? Do you feel an unsettling or a restlessness? Are their some unexplained anxieties on your heart? Or are their some perfectly explainable anxieties? Is there some sort of suffering that is causing heartache? I know for myself that the answer to all these questions is a resounding yes. There seems to be a longing within me for something deeper and something eternally satisfying. I have come to the wells of the world only to find them drying out very quickly. I have been looking to many things recently to act as my "functional savior." That is, I long for something to satisfy me and leave me satisfied only to walk away and five minutes later feel the pain of hunger once again. This is true especially of food. I love food even to the point that I find happiness in it and long for it not for its practical function but for its comfort. The same can be said of every human on the planet though the object may differ. For example your "functional savior" could be television, sports, shopping, cars, movies, entertainment, or even yourself. But we all struggle with, when we are hurting, looking to the things of this world to satisfy the ache. While reading this morning the Holy Spirit impressed upon me that when I find myself longing for something to act as a functional savior I must abandon it and seek my true Savior. The best way to do this is by fasting. In Matthew 4:1-4 Jesus is led to the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to endure a time of testing and tempting by Satan. (Notice He was led there by God! vs 1) But before the tempting began He spent forty days fasting. He spent forty days abandoning anything that would stray His heart from His Father. Then when the enemy came He was ready. Was He pain free? NO! the Bible explicitly says He was hungry. He had not eaten in forty days. That had to physically hurt. The first thing Satan tempted Him with was food. He told him to just turn the stones to bread. That was small change to God. It was nothing. Yet Jesus would not do it. Why not? "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." What was Jesus saying? God was his sustainer not food. Jesus knew that it was the very words of God that gave Him life. The is echoed in the confession of Peter to Jesus "Where else will we go Lord for you have the words of life." This should be our confession to God. If there is something in your life that has captivated your attention more than Jesus then fast. Fast from that object whatever it may be. If it's food then fast from food. Tv then fast. Shopping then fast. Spend time away from whatever is controlling you and spend that time when the one who sustains you, and you will know what Jesus meant when he quoted, "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word the comes from the mouth of the Lord." Jesus' words bring life. Let us draw near to our God and read the words life as He speaks to us through the Bible.

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