Many people in our church family are working through various forms of a three week fast. We have some folks fasting from technology and others are fasting from all or certain kinds of food. Matthew 6 assumes that Christ followers will fast. The question is why should we fast, what is the payoff?

The book of Daniel is a great place to get that answer. Daniel begins with a tragedy. Judah, Daniel’s homeland, is invaded by another King, the temple is defiled, sacred objects are dedicated to foreign gods and Daniel is taken prisoner. Daniel was selected, among some other captives to be schooled and trained to become a servant to the new King. This select group of people were given a portion of the kings food and wine. The problem was the kings food would have been unclean to a Jewish young man. Daniel was faced with a choice. He was given a pretty good situation as captives go. He could melt into the country and assume this was God’s will for him, or he could refuse the good food of the king and remain faithful to the Jewish law for God’s glory. Daniel chose to go against the grain, along with some of his friends, and fast from the rich food of the king, and eat only vegetables and water. A diet like that would insure faithfulness to the Jewish law and Daniel and his friends would therefore not be defiled or unclean. God blessed their obedience and, later, when the king inspected his captive trainees Daniel and his friends looked healthier than the others who were eating a full range of foods. Verse 15 of Daniel chapter 1 says: “Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourished than the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king.”

From my perspective, Daniel’s fast did at least two awesome, worthwhile things. First it continually reminded him that he wasn’t home. I don’t think I’d criticize Daniel if he’d have chosen to eat the kings food. I think that would have been a reasonable decision given the circumstances, certainly that is what most of the captives did. However, by separating himself from the kings luxuries Daniel was continually reminded of who he was. He did not place his hope for joy or pleasure in the gifts of the enemy territory that were around him. He kept his hope and joy tied directly to his relationship with God, who was very faithful to him through his captivity.

Fasting does the same thing for us. We live in the wealthiest culture in the history of man. We deny ourselves so very little. We have almost endless food and entertainment and we can become centered on the things that come with living in this enemy territory. Our enemy is more than happy to watch us weaken as we eat and drink and entertain ourselves while our passion for our real home is greatly lessened. We become obsessed with our homes and cars and bank accounts, all of which is, and forever will be, locked to enemy territory. You can’t take any of that home. Colossians 3:1-3 Since you have been raised to new life in Christ, set your sites on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. Every good thing around you is a gift of God’s grace and is given as a hint of the joy of heaven. Fasting helps us move our passions home.

The second thing fasting does for us is also from Daniel’s story. In Daniel chapter 2 the king has a dream that he can’t understand. None of the advisers around him knew how to interpret the dream either. Daniel, however, was close to God. He listened closely to God and God gave him supernatural ability to tell the king the meaning of his dream. In fact, Daniel did that three times. When we pull away from the noise of life and simplify our daily routine by not eating, or by turning the TV off and withdrawing from the computer we reduce the noise in our life to the point where we can hear God’s still small voice speaking to us.

The two very best things of life are knowing that our future is a trillion times better than our present and that our hope in that future is more real than anything else in my life, and fellowship with Almighty God where I hear him and rest in him. Fasting brings both of those awesome things.

Really, what could be better than that?

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