Two Types of Fasting
And one type of fasting that isn’t advisable!
Recently I’ve been reading up on Intermittent Fasting. If you’re not familiar with the concept, it doesn’t necessarily mean changing what you eat; it’s more to do with the time frame. Apparently, your body type dictates which fasting period works best for you, although one of the most popular is the 16/8 method. This involves restricting your eating window to 8 hours a day.
Fasting isn’t a new thing, but the reasons for doing it are very different. So what does the word fast mean?
The Online Etymology Dictionary says fast means to “abstain from food,” Old English fæstan “to fast” (as a religious duty), also “to make firm; establish, confirm, pledge,” and it evolved to mean “have firm control of oneself,”
I know that it has been challenging any time I’ve fasted; my stomach can shout pretty loudly and it certainly has taken self-discipline. However, the type of fasting I want to talk about here isn’t fasting to diet or fasting because you feel it’s something God wants you to do.
This morning I was reading Matthew Chapter 4, which starts with the temptation of Jesus.
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
That got me thinking, how many people unconsciously ‘fast’ the word of God? Unlike physical fasting, there isn’t any benefit in doing it. In fact, the opposite is true. Intermittent fasting isn’t the way to go either! We can be so focused on what we need to eat to keep our physical strength that we completely forget what we need to digest to improve our spiritual strength.
We need to use the second meaning of the word fast when it comes to reading the Bible, “to make firm; establish, confirm, pledge,” To “have firm control of oneself,” by shutting down distractions and taking time to focus on what God has to say to us.
Right now, I’m giving intermittent fasting a go, I’m doing the 16/8 method, but I don’t want to intermittently fast time with God. I want to hold fast to him and have the self-discipline to meet with him regularly. What about you?
