I know Lent is a common time of Fasting.

And Thanksgiving is a common time of Feasting.

 

But what about today? Right now?

   

Are you Fasting or Feasting?

     

Are you depriving yourself of anything?

Or are you partaking of an abundance?

 

Are you giving up some element of your life?

Or are you receiving something?       

    

Fast and Feast: The Definitions

       

Let us consider the meanings of Fast and Feast:

 

My simple definition of Fast is “deprivation.”

My simple definition of Feast is “abundance.”

     

 

Fasting in the Bible

      

Interestingly, the Torah does not require any fasting, any abstaining from food.

The Day of Atonement is considered to be a day of fasting; however, the phrase used is anah⁶⁰³¹ (Numbers 29:7).

Isaiah’s use of parallel structure is used to identify “affliction” with “fasting.”

³ ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’                                                          Isaiah 58:3 NASB

 

Therefore,

Second Temple tradition, rabbinic tradition, as well as Karaite and Samaritan tradition, however, all interpret the Torah’s reference to self-affliction to be a reference to fasting.                                                  Why Jews Fast

 

In the article Is Fasting for Christians Today? Wayne Jackson writes:

Though there are no compulsory fasts required of Christians today, the New Testament seems to take for granted that children of God would see the need to fast occasionally.

When the Lord’s disciples were criticized for not fasting, Jesus responded by suggesting that it was hardly appropriate for them to fast while he was yet with them. The time would come, however, when he would be taken away from them. Then they would fast (Lk. 5:35).

Too, in cautioning against improper motivation in worship, Christ warned: “Moreover when you fast, be not, as hypocrites” (Mt. 6:16). It is significant that he did not say if but when ye fast reflecting an expectation that they would.  (emphasis original)

 

Fasting has been, and is, a long-standing Jewish and Christian spiritual discipline. However, fasting is generally voluntary, self-ordained, and self-directed.

 

Think about a time of Fasting, of deprivation, in your life:

• What did you give up?
• What did you deprive yourself?
• What did you deny yourself any enjoyment?
• What was the reason for the fast?

 

Think about a time of Feasting, of abundance, in your life:

• How did you feel about being filled up to the tip-top?
• How did you react the gift of plentiful resources?
• How did you respond to having satiated senses?
• What was the source of the abundance?

 

 

A Time of Fasting

    

We have a time of fasting coming, due to our move.

It’s not a Food Fast.

Rather, it’s a forced Digital Fast.

 

I knew we were moving to a community out in the “middle of nowhere.”

But I thought we were going to be not too far from “somewhere.”

 

We found out last week that we are going to be a little more “out” than we expected.

And we will be a little farther from “somewhere” – digitally.

 

First we discovered we have no cell phone service – yep, NO bars.

And it’ll take 3 weeks to get internet and land line phone service.

 

We will be “unplugged.”

• No cell phone service
• No internet for 3 weeks
• No email
• No FaceTime
• No web surfing
• No webinars
• No Netflix

Only text messages can get through to the house.

 

Then I realized that also meant:

• No digital distractions
• No interruptions via the internet
• No 24/7 electronic availability

 

I would have to be intentional to be connected digitally.

I would have to drive at least to the other side of the lake to get cell service.

     

      

Living “Unplugged”

    

What would I do without digital connection?

What would I do if I were “unplugged”?

 

What could I do without digital disruptions?

What could I do while I’m “unplugged”?

 

I could:

• read, instead of surfing the web
• watch teaching DVDs, instead of bingeing on Netflix
• write, instead of reading and replying to emails
• talk, instead of listening to streaming music

and

• listen to the still, small voice inside me

 

Yeah.

 

That one.

The voice that so easily gets drowned out by:

• the hurry and the busyness of the urgent, yet unimportant
• the siren call of the world and its temptations
• worry and fear regarding the affairs of men

     

      

The Kingdom of Heaven

    

The Kingdom of Heaven is sometimes called the Inverted Kingdom. Its focus is 180^o away from the focus of the kingdoms of the world.

     

The Last Shall Be First

    

Regarding what the disciples gave up for Jesus:

³¹ “But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.”                                                         Mark 10:31 NASB

 

Regarding the Laborers in the Vineyard:

¹⁶ “So the last shall be first, and the first last.”                                                    Matthew 20:16 NASB

 

Regarding who will be in the Kingdom of God:

³⁰ “And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last.”                                                          Luke 13:30 NASB

 

Regarding how to be first:

³⁵ Sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.”                                                           Mark 9:35 NASB

     

     

A Leader Must Serve

     

The call to Servant-Leadership:

¹³ “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴ “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. ¹⁶ “Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.                                                          John 13:13-17 NASB

 

 

So,

What if having 3 weeks without internet or a land phone line isn’t a hardship?

What if, instead, it is a blessing?

What if I seized, this God-given opportunity of “deprivation” to spend time on something else?

What if I took the time and energy I spend in the virtual, digital, world and spent it in personal relationships, especially with God?

   

         

The 180^o POV

    

What if, instead of seeing Fasting as doing without, I saw it from the Point of View (POV) of the Kingdom of Heaven?

The Kingdom of Heaven is the Inverted Kingdom, the 180-degree-turn from the kingdom of the world.

What if, instead of seeing times of Fasting as deprivation, I saw them as times of opportunity to Feast on God?

What if, instead of focusing on having less of something, I embraced getting more of God?

    

     

The Feasts of YeHoVaH

        

But, have you noticed that in the Bible, while there is only one (“semi-required”) Fast, there are three required Feasts of the LORD, Feasts of YeHoVaH?

Three times a year His people were to stop what they were doing, have a special Sabbath, join Him at His Temple, and spend time in relationship with Him, worshipping Him, honoring Him. (Leviticus 23)

The time was also to be spent in relationship with others, enjoying the hospitality of food, drink, good, deep, meaningful conversation, and teaching.

 

Feasting on God

   

How can we feast on God?

• The Word

We can feast upon the Word of God.

¹⁰³ How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!                                                     Psalm 119:103 NASB

 

• The Bread of Life

We can eat of the Bread of Life.

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

⁴⁸ “I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰ “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.                                                    John 6:35, 48-49 NASB

 

• The Son

We can eat and drink of the body and blood of the Son.

⁵⁴ “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵ “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.                                                  John 6:54-56 NASB

 

⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.                                                    John 6:53 NASB

 

• Eternal Life

Life is in the blood.

¹¹ ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’                                                      Leviticus 17:11 NASB

 

Therefore, Eternal Life is received through the blood of Yeshua.

 ⁵⁷ “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me.                                                           John 6:57 NASB

    

     

Consider the Sabbath

    

One Lenten tradition I know is that of not fasting on the Sundays during Lent. Instead, Sundays are to be mini feast days.

 

Not getting into the Saturday/ Sunday “Sabbath” discussion, the Sabbath is a time to separate ourselves from our ordinary, day-to-day lives.

I see this as a type of “fast.”

 

Consequently, the Sabbath is a time to draw closer to our Lord, feasting on Him.

 

Do you take time out of your ordinary, day-to-day life, to feast on God?

Do you celebrate the opportunity to fast from the things of the world in order to feast on the things of the LORD?

 

I challenge you to try it.

Feast on the Word of God while fasting from the incessant babbling of the digital and non-digital world.

 

Listen in the quiet.

Listen for the still, small voice in your heart  

Listen for a word from the Spirit to your spirit.

 

In the immortal words of Jean Luc Picard,

“Make it so.”

 

Blessings,

 

TLThomas

www.MyWordOnTheWord.com