Fasting is known as a temporary abstinence from food so saying ‘Fasting but Eating’ seems to be a contradiction, I’m sure. But when I say Fasting, I don’t mean the 40 days and Night fast that Jesus did. I mean ‘the practice of restraining oneself from indulging in something.’
And that’s the challenge for today.
Since I’m going all dictionary today, I’d like to draw your attention to two words: addiction and idolatry. They go very hand in hand to be honest. An addiction is ‘an abnormally strong craving’ and idolatry is ‘the worship of physical objects or images as gods’.
And we all know what the Bible has to say about idolatry.
“Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.”
1 Corinthians 10:14
“Dear children, keep yourself from idols.”
1 John 5:21
And to further reiterate, “Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.”
Jonah 2:8
Safe to say that the Bible confirms it as a no-no.
But it still manages to find its way to people’s lives. You may not be carving out cows from wood or snakes from gold to worship, but truthfully, you my be as addicted to your phone, to someone (maybe a celebrity or a friend) or anything just as much as people who make those statues. Does that make us any better than them if we’re doing the same thing?
Which is why the challenge for today requires both evaluation and action.
I urge you to look into yourself and identify that one, two or five million things you can’t live without. Except God of course 😉 You have to be honest with yourself and let the Holy Spirit convict you because this isn’t something someone can admit for you. They can tell you but they can never accept it for you.
Once you’ve identified this thing, you can go search up the person because you’ll see that 100% of the time, it was made by humans. And what does that mean? It’s temporary. People who exist inside time can’t make anything that exists outside of it by themselves.
Once you’ve identified what you’re seemingly addicted to, you’ve done a good job evaluating. Now action needs to be taken.
24 hours is a long time so let’s start small.
For 4 hours, stay away from whatever this thing is. In those 4 hours, think about how you fee and why you want it. It’ll help you identify where the problem is coming from. Do this regularly and ofocurse let rhe Holy Spirit guide you in your journey of abstience and cleansing.
Here’s what I did:
I wasn’t completely addicted to my phone but it was my go-to way too much. Bored? Phone. In public and want to avoid looking at anyone? Phone. Spare time? Phone. Everything revolved around me picking up my phone. So randomly one day a conversation came up with a few people and I about who could last a day without their phones. And I made the spontaneous decision to go 24 hours without my phone. And I did. And learnt a lot from that experience. I’m honestly going to do it again.
So go ahead and let go of whatever has you wrapped up.
Because the only One you absolutely need to survive is God.