"Fasting" by Scot McKnight

Part of The Ancient Practices Series, Fasting by Scot McKnight is written with the "average Joe Christian" in mind...meaning it was easy to follow, without of the $10 theological terminology and yet, hard-hitting enough to challenge me to continue the exploration of this discipline that until recently had all but vanished from evangelical churches in the U.S.

But nowadays, fasting has become the trendy thing. McKnight warns up front that fasting should never be results-driven. Yet, isn't that what most of us hear in our churches? We're told that we can discern God's will better, draw closer to Him or maybe even have a supernatural experience if we'll only fast.

McKnight doesn't hesitate to belabor the point that the biblical and historical traditions of fasting always arose out of a "grievously sacred moment". Either a person or nation was confronted with their own sin (i.e. David after his sin with Bathsheba, pleading for his child's life) or when purifying themselves before a holy God, fasting brought sharply into focus that He was no longer their first love.

Death, shame, confronting evil and even oddly enough, celebrations could all become moments that would catapult someone into expressing their grief or desire in no other way than through the practice of fasting. This was a new concept to me. I've asked the Holy Spirit to lead me into a season of fasting when He desires and He has faithfully done it. Whenever I have attempted to fast because it's someone else's inspiration, I have always quickly given up. McKnight also alludes to Richard Foster (author of Celebration of Discipline) with the premise that whatever controls us will swiftly rise to the surface when we fast. He is absolutely spot on! If I have an ulterior motive of losing weight or anger or bitterness are consuming me...it is rapidly evident when I begin to fast.

But McKnight doesn't ignore the church rhythms of fasting according to the calendar either. He advocates Lent and fasting on holy days as a way of reminding us or giving us an opportunity to participate in the sufferings of our Savior.

What became for me the strongest argument for fasting wasn't even McKnight's main focus. But for me it comes down to this: We in the western culture have become dualistic in nature. We have separated our physical being from our spiritual one. I just said to a friend this week something like, 'People say their spiritual instead of religious, like that means something. It doesn't. We're all spiritual by the very nature that we all have a spirit.'

Most of what I see critics in and out of the church grumble about all comes down to the fact that we've lost the innate perception that nothing happens to our physical body that doesn't affect our spirit. That's why we have obesity even more rampant in the church than in the general population. It's why premarital sex statistics aren't much different no matter what you faith background is. It's why Christians sit in front of tv's wasting just as many hours as non-Christians. It's why we can gripe about poverty and people draining resources and not see it as our own spiritual problem And one of my biggest pet peeves...it's why we keep putting junk into our bodies and don't expect it to harm us spiritually. Really? How can I have the energy and mental acumen to serve Jesus when I'm filling up with processed foods and sugars all day long?

What helps bring me back into the rhythm of remembrance that my body is not my own, just as my spirit is not my own? The ancient disciplines...prayer, meditation, solitude, simplicity...and fasting.