(Continuing from last week)
HAVING DISCUSSED the right mode of fasting, we may go further to examine what exactly is fasting and is it’s purpose There is no doubt — since God’s people have felt that fasting is not only right, but as of great value and of great importance under certain circumstances that ultimately, fasting is something which is based upon an understanding of the relationship between the body and the Spirit. Man is body; mind and Spirit; and these are intimately related one to another and interact very closely upon one another. They could be distinguished from one another but cannot be separated because of their inter-relationship and inter-action.
There can be no question whatsoever, that the physical bodily states and conditions do have a bearing upon the activity of the mind and of the Spirit, so that the element of fasting must be considered in this peculiar relationship of body, mind and spirit. What fasting really means, therefore, is abstinence from food for spiritual purposes. This is the biblical notion of fastirtg which must be separated from the purely physical. The biblical notion of fasting is that, for certain spiritual reasons and purposes, men and women decide to abstain from food for a given period. Fasting should always be distinguished from man’s general discipline, being something unusual or exceptional, something which a man does now and again for a special purposes, while discipline should be perpetual and permanent. Such texts as “I keep my body under” and “mortify your members that are upon the earth” are not fasting and do not by any stretch of imagination connote it. Moderation in eating is a part of discipline of the body, and it is a very good way of keeping the body “under” but that is not fasting, the emphasis is on, that fasting means an abstinence from food for the sake of certain special purposes such as prayer or meditation or seeking God for some peculiar reason or under some exceptional circumstance.
To make the matter complete, fasting if conceivably true, must include, not only abstinence from food, nor confined to the question of food and drink, but should really be made to include abstinence from anything which is legitimate in and of itself for the sake of some special spiritual purpose. There are many bodily functions which are right and normal and perfectly legitimate, but which for special peculiar reasons in certain circumstances should be controlled. That is fasting. This is, as it were, a kind of general definition of what is meant by fasting.
Fasting must not be mechanical in manner or merely for the sake of doing so. It will be a violation of the biblical teaching with regard to the whole matter. In other words, in fasting, the believer should not make it an end in itself, or something being embarked upon simply because one has become a Christian, he has to fast on certain days and at certain times purposelessly; the special element of the act goes right out of it when fasting is done in this manner. This result is not peculiar to fasting. It also results in mechanical praying. There should be some regimentation of spiritual exercises in Christianity. Anything done merely for the sake of doing it or as a matter of rule or note, is surely a serious violation of the scriptural teaching Fasting must never be regarded as an end in itself, nor as part of self discipline. To abstain from food on a certain day of the week or abstain from certain kind of food during a particular period of the year from a standpoint of self discipline is no fasting, because discipline is merely something permanent and perpetual element of Christian life. The true Christian should always be in a disciplined state and always holding the reins tightly upon himself. Thus it is wrong to reduce fasting to merely a part of the process of discipline. Rather it is something that should be done to reach that higher spiritual realm of prayer to God or meditation or intense intercession.
Christians must never undertake fasting with a mechanic view of expecting immediate blessings or relief from problems immediately after fasting. God’s response to prayers accompanied by fasting are not all the time automatic. It is a dangerous principle to hold that God must respond to all requests because they were made while fasting. The moment a believer begins to hold such a view, it means that he is controlling the blessings and relief he seeks. This is to insult God and to violet the great doctrine of His final and ultimate sovereignty. Fasting should never be seen as an and in itself, there is a limit to exercising the inherent powers God has given to believers to change unacceptable situations in their lives, but when a believer makes request to God’s infinite power, such a believer must do so with absolute faith and total resignation to God’s will as regards time, and method, otherwise such a believer could insult God’s sovereignty.
All teaching that advocates fasting as attracting or bringing about God’s blessing immediately after, is quite unscriptural. Indeed it is worse than that, it derogates from the glory and the majesty of God Himself. Therefore we should never advocate, indulge in, or practice fasting as a method or means of obtaining immediate direct blessing from God. The value of fasting is indirect and not direct.
The Christian must never confuse the physical with the spiritual. It is often that after the fifth day of fasting, there comes a period of unusual mental clarity, and this is more often than not, mistaken for entry into the spiritual realm. Although this cannot be proved to be merely physical propensity, however it must be observed that people who are not Christians at all who undertake a period of fasting also, invariably testify to the same condition. There is no doubt whatsoever that fasting- purely on the physical and bodily level, is something good for one’s physical frame as long as it is done properly; and there is no doubt that clarity of mind and brain and understanding do result from it. But great care must always be exercised not to attribute to the spiritual what can be adequately explained by the physical, so that we do no harm to the cause of Christ by attributing something that can be explained to be purely physical, to the action of the Holy Spirit- (“Miracle”) they say! This danger is ever present in fasting exercise confusion between the physical and the spiritual.
Fasting should always be regarded as a means to an end, and not an end in itself. It is something that a man should do only when he feels impelled or led by the spirit to do it, or when the pastor of the church declares a period of fasting for some spiritual reasons. It is not to be done because a certain section of the church enjoins fasting on a Friday or during a period of lent or for any other reason; fasting must not be done mechanically. The believer ought to discipline himself at all times, and not merely at certain stated periods. Fasting should be undertaken when there is some mighty spiritual purpose, and, not according to rule, but because of some peculiar worship of God. This is the time to fast, and this is the way to approach the subject.
Jesus teaches that “when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance for they disfigure their faces, that may appear unto men to fast” (Matt 6:16) any announcement of the fast or calling attention to it, is utterly reprehensible to God, as was the case with prayers and almsgiving. In deed this is a principle which covers the whole Christian life. It condemns equally, the affecting of pious looks. It condemns equally the adoption of pious attitudes. It is pathetic sometimes, the way some Christians do this, even in singing hymns — the uplifted face at certain points and the rising on tiptoe. These things are affected, and it is when they become affected that they become so sad. It is an error to fast in this way even though people may think of you as a very spiritual devout Christian. The Bible says of such people: “… they will get the praise of men, but that is all the reward they will get for God seeth in secret. He sees the heart”; and ‘that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination in the sight of God’.
Christ’s teaching that “But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face ” should not be taken to mean that while you must not disfigure your face — looking gloomy — you must go to the other extreme to give the opposite impression. This is a complete misunderstanding of the Lord’s teaching. There is nothing exceptional about washing the face and anointing the hair. This is normal usual procedure. What the Lord is teaching here is “when you fast be natural” the principle is to forget other people altogether In order to avoid looking sad or gloomy, do not put a grin on your face and do not allow it to form on its own. Forget your face, forget yourself and what you are doing as you forget other people. It is the interest in the opinion of other people that robs you of the concentration on God which is the principal focus of fasting to God. Do not worry about the impression you might be creating in other people, just give up yourself entirely unto God, and about pleasing Him. Be concerned only about God’s honour and His glory.
The Christian must always remember that when we fast truly unto God, observing all that Christ has taught in the NT about fasting, one thing that matters very much is being right in the sight of God and being concerned above every other thing about pleasing Him. He may withhold the answer to our request for some time, but our faith that He will eventually bestow it, should not be shaken for He will in His own time and circumstance bestow it. His promises never fail. Even though the world may never know what we are, God knows, and at the great day it will be announced before the whole world.
The End
