16 Verily I say unto
you, They have their reward. 17 But thou, when
thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18 That thou appear
not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father,
which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. (Matt
6:16-18)
There is definitely a time and purpose for fasting, else the
Lord would not have said, “When ye fast…”
in the future tense. It is not commanded, but Christ certainly expresses a
benefit of fasting. But what does fasting mean? It does is not necessarily
relegated to food abstinence as we shall see in today’s devotion.
Below is a devotion written by an old friend of mine who
faithfully teaches me many times a week even though he lived more than sixteen
hundred years ago. His writings are godly, biblical, and full of precious gems
of truth:
Fasting consists not merely in abstinence from food, but in a separation
from sinful practices; he who limits his fasting only to an abstinence of
meats, is one who specially disparages it. Dost thou fast? Give me proof
of it by thy works. It is said, By what works? If thou seest the poor man, take
pity on him. If thou seest an enemy, be reconciled with him; if thou seest a
friend gaining honor, envy him not. Let not thy mouth only fast, but also
the eye, the ear, the feet, the hands, and all the members of the body.
Let the hands fast, by being pure from rapine and avarice. Let the feet fast,
by ceasing from running to forbidden pleasures. Let the eyes fast, by learning
never to fix themselves on curious or unholy delights. Let the ear fast by not
listening to evil speakings and calumnies. Let the mouth fast from disgraceful
speeches and railing. For what doth it profit if we abstain from birds and
fishes, and yet bite and devour our brethren? Thou hast not fixed thy teeth in
the flesh, but thou hast fixed the slander in the soul; thou hast harmed in a
thousand ways, thyself, and thy neighbor, and many others, for in slandering a
neighbor thou hast made him who listens to the slander worse; for should he be
wicked man, he becomes more careless when he finds a poartner in his wickedness;
and should he be a just man, he is lifted up to arrogance, and puffed up, being
led on by the sin of others to imagine great things concerning himself.
And this from another old friend of Massachusetts (and the bishop thereof in
the 1800s), Phillips Brooks:
Properly
speaking, fasting is not so much a duty enjoined by revelation as it is the
natural expression of certain religious feelings and desires. There is but one
special fast ordained in the Old Testament, and there is none at all ordained
in the New. Yet one cannot fail to see that the exercise is nevertheless quite
in accordance with the whole tenour of a true religious life of all ages; and
that, if it is not expressly commanded, it is only because nature itself
teaches us in certain circumstances thus to afflict the soul. These
circumstances which would obviously suggest this exercise are twofold.
I. Fasting is the natural expression of grief, and
therefore the natural accompaniment of godly sorrow. It is a mistaken kindness
to press dainties on the heart when it has no appetite for aught but its
sorrow. Better let it have its fill of grief—better every way for body and
mind. Spiritual sorrow in the same way suggests, and is the better for, this
exercise of fasting.
II. Fasting is also a wise method of keeping down the law
of the flesh which is in our members. Rich and poor will be the better for a
fast now and then, to mortify the flesh, to weaken the incentives to evil, to
subdue in some measure the carnal nature, and give freer play and power to the
spiritual man within.
III. Our Lord counsels His people, (1) that their fasting
must be real, sincere, genuine—a thing to be seen, not of men, but of God; (2)
that fasting in the Christian Church should be altogether private, and even
secret, not only not in order to be seen of men, but absolutely hidden from
them. Religion does not consist in a sour visage or morose habit—nay, more,
religion is not properly a sorrowful thing. The Gospel was not sad tidings, but
glad tidings for all mankind, and we are not acting fairly by it unless we
strive so to present it, in all its winning and attractive beauty, that men
shall be led to seek after Jesus. Christianity has its godly sorrow, has its
heart-grief for sin, has its fasting and mortifying of the flesh; yet we do it
utter injustice unless we also make it appear that it is, taken as a whole, the
only true blessedness and peace and joy, the only walk with God which is
gladness everlasting. Phillips Brooks, The Candle of the Lord, p. 200
Rather than fasting on the reasonable commentaries of biblical fasting above,
it will be good to abstain from fasting on a serious and biblical study on
these great issues to see if God will render a sure Word to Light our Path.
