The Exclamation Point at the End of the Sentence

Lent Day 13.

If there's an emoji to represent how I feel about fasting, it's probably this one:

You see, I like to pick my sacrifices.

When I pick them, they are generally convenient.........for me.

Or, they are fairly easy.

As soon as I typed this following sentence yesterday, I felt, well...conviction:

It does.

But the "sacrifices" I choose, aren't always that costly.

Oh, don't get me wrong.

Sometimes they require finances...and that's a sacrifice, yes?

Sure...to a degree.

However, here's the thing. Most of the time giving $$ is easy.

I give out of my pocket book what I know I can afford.

Yet, look at these words once spoken by the God-seeking-heart of King David:

Here's the thing, though. Because I don't want to fast from food, I tend to choose other fasts that don't cost me quite as much as going without for a day (well, even a meal, for that matter). 

As the Lord told his disciples, "When you fast (as opposed to "if you fast")," He was speaking of food.

Food is that one comfort for me that "satisfies" me the most, in general.

I do find that food is my go-to for consolation...sadly, often before the Lord.

So, to go without food is what produces that emoji above.

However, as I began to study fasting more thoroughly, I read this article, which produced a longing in me for a David-heart-kind-of-sacrifice. Maybe reading this linked blog would be a good beginning for you, too. But, let me quote a few lines:

"...let me summarize the heart of Christian fasting and why we Christians do it. One way to say it is that fasting is the hungry Christian's handmaid of faith. Fasting is not a replacement for faith in Jesus. It is a servant of faith in Jesus. Fasting is a way of saying with our stomach and our whole body how much we need and want and trust Jesus. It is a way of saying that we are not going to be enslaved by food as the source of our satisfaction. We will use the renunciation of food from time to time to express that Jesus is better than food. Jesus is more needful than food."

"And when we fast we say: I love the reality more than I love the emblem. Both feasting and fasting are worship for the Christian. Both magnify Christ. And, of course, both have their peculiar dangers. The danger of feasting is that we fall in love with the gift. And the danger of fasting is that we belittle the gift and boast in our willpower, our discipline. 

But at its best, Christian fasting is not a belittling of the good gift of food. It is simply a heartfelt, body felt, exclamation point at the end of the sentence: I love you, God. I need you more than I need food, more than I need life."

It's not too late in Lent to add an occasional fast from food. 

I plan to begin a fast for the very reasons stated above.

This is still a good time to say to the Lord: 

I want fasting to become that exclamation point at the end of my sentence...