{"id":5538,"date":"2019-07-12T05:50:01","date_gmt":"2019-07-12T13:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=5538"},"modified":"2019-07-12T05:50:04","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T13:50:04","slug":"celebration-of-discipline-fasting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2019\/07\/12\/celebration-of-discipline-fasting","title":{"rendered":"Celebration of Discipline: Fasting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Blog read\u00aders: Chi Alpha @ Stan\u00adford is engag\u00ading in our annu\u00adal sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. As we read through Cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion of Dis\u00adci\u00adpline by Richard Fos\u00adter, I\u2019ll post my thoughts here (which will large\u00adly con\u00adsist of excerpts I found insight\u00adful). They are all tagged sum\u00admer-read\u00ading-project-2019<\/a>. The sched\u00adule is online<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"book<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I think two insights from this chap\u00adter are par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly salient for today: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough\u00adout Scrip\u00adture fast\u00ading refers to abstain\u00ading from food for spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal pur\u00adpos\u00ades. It stands in dis\u00adtinc\u00adtion to the hunger strike, the pur\u00adpose of which is to gain polit\u00adi\u00adcal pow\u00ader or attract atten\u00adtion to a good cause. It is also dis\u00adtinct from health diet\u00ading which stress\u00ades absti\u00adnence from food for phys\u00adi\u00adcal, not spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal, pur\u00adpos\u00ades.\u201d<\/p>Richard Fos\u00adter, Cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion of Dis\u00adci\u00adpline, page 48<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

When\u00adev\u00ader peo\u00adple tell me that they are fast\u00ading from social media I always feel puz\u00adzled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like the con\u00adcept, I just don\u2019t like call\u00ading it fast\u00ading. Tak\u00ading a break from Insta\u00adgram is just self-con\u00adtrol and does\u00adn\u2019t need a spe\u00adcial label. Fast\u00ading is refrain\u00ading from some\u00adthing that you need to sur\u00advive \u2014 it shows that God is more pre\u00adcious to you than life. Cut\u00adting out Face\u00adbook does\u00adn\u2019t rise to that lev\u00adel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we expand the word fast\u00ading to include any act of self-depri\u00adva\u00adtion, we prime our\u00adselves to ignore actu\u00adal fast\u00ading. \u201cI don\u2019t need to fast food. I fast social media.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lit\u00adtle lat\u00ader Fos\u00adter says<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReg\u00adu\u00adlar or week\u00adly fast\u00ading has had such a pro\u00adfound effect in the lives of some that they have sought to find a Bib\u00adli\u00adcal com\u00admand for it, so that it may be urged upon all Chris\u00adtians. The search is in vain. There sim\u00adply are no Bib\u00adli\u00adcal laws that com\u00admand reg\u00adu\u00adlar fast\u00ading. Our free\u00addom in the gospel, how\u00adev\u00ader, does not mean license; it means oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty. Since there are no laws to bind us, we are free to fast on any day.\u201d <\/p>Richard Fos\u00adter, Cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion of Dis\u00adci\u00adpline, page 51<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Read\u00ading these words again over 20 years after I first stum\u00adbled upon them I real\u00adize how influ\u00aden\u00adtial they have been to me. If you skimmed over them while rac\u00ading through the chap\u00adter, I encour\u00adage you to read over them again slow\u00adly. These words apply to far more than fast\u00ading. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some additional thoughts:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The prac\u00adti\u00adcal details in this chap\u00adter are sol\u00adid gold. If you\u2019ve nev\u00ader fast\u00aded for at least three days, I encour\u00adage you to fol\u00adlow Fos\u00adter\u2019s advice on pages 56\u201360. Start with skip\u00adping two meals (a 24 hour fast), then after a few rep\u00ade\u00adti\u00adtions skip three meals (a 36 hour fast), and then once you feel ready plan to skip meals for three to sev\u00aden days. Since the first three days are the hard\u00adest, if you\u2019re going to fast three days then you might as well do sev\u00ader\u00adal more unless you have a rea\u00adson not to (pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal oblig\u00ada\u00adtions, an ath\u00adlet\u00adic train\u00ading sched\u00adule, etc). After that, do what makes the most sense to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, don\u2019t lie about your fast\u00ading. Young Chris\u00adtians do this all the time because they believe that if any\u00adone dis\u00adcov\u00aders that they are fast\u00ading then it does\u00adn\u2019t count. That\u2019s a mis\u00adun\u00adder\u00adstand\u00ading. What Jesus for\u00adbids is draw\u00ading atten\u00adtion to your fast so that peo\u00adple admire you. Here are His words in the NIV:<\/p>\n\n\n\n


\u201cWhen you fast, do not look somber as the hyp\u00adocrites do, for they dis\u00adfig\u00adure their faces to show oth\u00aders they are fast\u00ading. Tru\u00adly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvi\u00adous to oth\u00aders that you are fast\u00ading, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.\u201d<\/p>Matthew 6:16\u201318<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The point is to not draw atten\u00adtion to what you are doing, and the sim\u00adple truth is that exces\u00adsive eva\u00adsions actu\u00adal\u00adly wind up draw\u00ading more atten\u00adtion to your fast\u00ading than a straight\u00adfor\u00adward acknowl\u00adedge\u00adment. So if some\u00adone asks you point blank if you are fast\u00ading, just say, \u201cYes.\u201d Or if one of your friends asks, \u201cDo you need me to buy your lunch for you? I\u2019m hap\u00adpy to spot you.\u201d Then tell them, \u201cOh, that\u2019s all right. I\u2019m not eat\u00ading lunch today. Thanks.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final\u00adly, if you strug\u00adgle with an eat\u00ading dis\u00ador\u00adder then you prob\u00ada\u00adbly should not fast until you achieve a healthy rela\u00adtion\u00adship with food. As a gen\u00ader\u00adal rule, spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal\u00adiz\u00ading your dys\u00adfunc\u00adtions leads to bad out\u00adcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next week we look at the dis\u00adci\u00adpline of study!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blog read\u00aders: Chi Alpha @ Stan\u00adford is engag\u00ading in our annu\u00adal sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. As we read through Cel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion of Dis\u00adci\u00adpline by Richard Fos\u00adter, I\u2019ll post my thoughts here (which will large\u00adly con\u00adsist of excerpts I found insight\u00adful). They are all tagged sum\u00admer-read\u00ad\u00ading-project-2019. The sched\u00adule is online. I think two insights from this chap\u00adter are \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u201cCel\u00ade\u00adbra\u00adtion of Dis\u00adci\u00adpline: Fast\u00ading\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Some thoughts about refraining from food for spiritual purposes.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[264,263],"class_list":["post-5538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources-reviews","tag-celebration-of-discipline","tag-summer-reading-project-2019"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1rk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5538"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5545,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5538\/revisions\/5545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}