Saturday, September, 6, 2008

Matthew 6 – Fasting

Posted at: 8:00 am

“When you fast…”  I’ve always wondered about that phrase.  Does it imply that fasting should be as much a part of Christian life as praying (v5 “And when you pray”), or does it mean that Jesus knew his audience had a practice in fasting and he was instructing them on the proper way to fast.  I tend to think that both are true.

I think fasting is one of the best disciplines we could reintroduce to American Christian culture (along with confession, but that’s for a different post).  Fasting requires discipline, commitment, and selflessness; it also does an amazing job of reorienting our lives.  You never really forget that you are fasting so you are constantly reminded of God working in your life.

Jesus main point in this passage is that fasting is not something we do to demonstrate our holiness to others.  Rather, fasting is something we do to reorient our hearts and minds to the will of God.  I often need to be reoriented and I do not fast enough.

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