Fasting during the time of Lent is an old tradition from the early church, till today. The tradition date for fasting starts with Ash Wednesday on the 17th of February this year till Easter Sunday on the 4th of April this year. This time is to remind us of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness, as we read in Matthew 4: 1 – 11. Fasting helps draw the person who fasts closer to God and is a good spiritual practice to help one focus on prayer and Bible reading. There are however wrong and right understandings of fasting, which I want to share with you. Fasting should not be seen as a way to diet, during Lent. One does get fasting habits for weight loss, but these differs from the fasting we do during Lent. You can choose with what you want to fast during Lent. Many people fast from foods, but you can also fast from things like coffee, social media, chocolate or anything that you often crave or takes up a big part of your day.
Fasting should also not be understood to be a time you suffer for God and so gaining more favour with God. God loves you fully, whether you fast or not. Fasting is also not something you use to show how pious you are, it should be something you do in silence and only when someone asks do you tell them, so that they don’t offer you that which you are fasting.
Some fasts are very challenging and for a first timer they might be too difficult. You could for example fast from sunrise till sunset from foods. But
I would suggest a more moderate approach, like fasting from specific foods, cravings or worldly distractions. When you feel the need for those foods, cravings or worldly distractions, instead of giving in to them, you take a few minutes of silence and pray for God’s help, God’s guidance and for strength in both the fasting and in those things you need help with. Scripture reading could also be of help here, reading a psalm or specific text over and over and asking God to reveal the message of the text to you. For a first timer, if might be best to use the time of Lent to read through the Gospel of Matthew and to walk that road which Jesus walked for all of us.
I want to motivate you to pray on this and if you decide to fast this year during Lent, really give it your all. You can ask a spouse or good friend
to help you and to share this experience with you and if you ‘fail’ just remember, God loves you the same and you can try again and again.
Pastor S. Treurnicht
