Partial Fasting for Spiritual Growth
The past year has been a roller coaster with uncertainties, struggles, challenges, losses, and unexpected blessings. While everyone has responded differently to the pandemic, there have likely been some changes in our lives. It’s important to take time to reflect on where we stand in our spiritual lives, and assess things that may be distracting us. One activity I do with my freshmen each semester is a modified form of fasting. The point of this is to identify something that is out of balance and to try to regain a healthy relationship with it. For example, many of my freshmen have discovered an overreliance on coffee, caffeine, and sugar. When they address one of these issues, they use whatever unconscious trigger they have as a reminder to think about their spiritual life and God.
Kent Carlson and Mike Lueken stress the need to take what they call “counter-intuitive action” as we concentrate on spiritual formation. This is basically doing the opposite of what we want to do. So if we do not feel like being gracious to someone, then put ourselves in a situation where we must show grace. If we do not want to be with people, then we put ourselves in social situations. Or if we are not comfortable being alone, then we spend time in solitude. They write, “As we start considering the details of our lives that need transformation, we begin seeing how automatic our responses are.” [1] Putting ourselves in situations that are counter to what our nature desires pushes us outside our comfort zones and helps us identify these responses. By doing this, we can experience spiritual growth.
Just as fasting from a food item can reveal the control a food can have on our lives, there are other things that can also control our lives. For example, we can become addicted to what others think about us, or to feeling good. Certain attitudes can take over our lives, such as anger, pride, fear, and hostility. We also become addicted to certain types of media-related services, such as the telephone, texting, social networking sites, the internet, music, and videos. Foster says that fasting helps people keep their lives balanced. He comments, “How quickly we crave things we do not need until we are enslaved by them. ... Our human cravings and desires are like rivers that tend to overflow their banks; fasting helps keep them in their proper channels.” [2] In 1 Cor. 6, Paul encourages the Corinthian church not to be mastered by anything. Likewise, we need to make sure that we are not falling into unhealthy relationships or unhealthy patterns.
New Testament Christianity was not bound by the expectations of culture, but instead challenged it and tried not to be controlled by it. It set up a radically different way of living, and it still challenges us to grow and examine different aspects of our lives, values, behaviors, attitudes, and actions. [3] Because of this, we should also examine our lives and seek out those things that distract us from God or make an unhealthy claim on us. It is a good idea to practice self-examination on a regular basis to see if there is something we need to put back into its proper place.
Here are some suggestions I use with my classes, and I invite you to try them, too. Ideally, you would do this for a week, but try it for at least two or three days.
Partial Fast: Choose a food item or group you consume frequently, and cut it out. Especially consider the ones with which you have an unhealthy relationship. Every time you think about it, take a moment to pray about what is going on around you.
Item Fast: Choose a physical item to cut out of your life. Especially consider items to which you feel close reliance or have an unhealthy attachment. Every time you feel yourself looking for or reaching for the object, pray about what is going on around you and also about that unconscious need for the item.
Activity or Behavior Fast: Choose an activity or behavior to cut out of your life. Especially consider the ones that take time away from your relationship with God. Popular ones to choose might be Netflix, Facebook, Twitter, favorite TV shows, or unhealthy behaviors. Every time you notice the absence of that activity or behavior, use it as a prompt to pray.
I do these with my students each semester, as well as during other times. One thing I have noticed is that, when we try to push back on an influence in one area, it often brings greater balance in other areas as well. Just the act of becoming aware of what we are doing can yield blessings.
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[1] Kent Carlson and Mike Lueken, Renovation of the Church (IVP Books, 2011), 124.
[2] Richard J. Foster, Freedom of Simplicity: Finding Harmony in a Complex World (HarperCollins, 2010), 174.
[3] David Augsburger, Dissident Discipleship: A Spirituality of Self-surrender, Love of God, and Love of Neighbor (Brazos Press, 2006).
