What Classic Spiritual Discipline Needs the Most Renewal Among American Christians?
Illustration by Amanda DuffyWhat Classic Spiritual Discipline Needs the Most Renewal Among American Christians?
Fasting
Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove is a pastor, cofounder of the Rutba House, and author of The Awakening of Hope: Why We Practice a Common Faith.
In learning the spiritual disciplines practiced by ancient leaders of the faith, we also learn discernment. We need different disciplines at different times. Like apprentices in the master's workshop, we must learn what work is most needed and what tool can best do the job. One tool particularly useful to us today is the discipline of fasting.
Christians in America often express two deep desires. We long for a community where we know we belong. Stretched by fast-paced work, a high-tech social life, and a constant flood of information, Americans feel fragmented and alone. We ache for home.
At the same time, our hearts also cry out for justice. We who have experienced God's love know that this same love connects us to child soldiers in Africa, sex slaves in Asia, and the stranger on our block. More than any time since the late 1800s, justice has become a rallying cry, especially among young evangelicals.
But even as we long for our true home and the justice that makes for peace, we struggle to act each moment on our truest desires. We are often consumed by anxiety about image, fear about the future, and desires for cheap comfort and instant gratification. A thousand forces conspire to distract us from our truest desires every day.
For this reason, I'm convinced that fasting is the spiritual discipline we most need to renew today. In his most famous sermon, Jesus talks about fasting immediately after his introduction of the Lord's Prayer, suggesting that the former should be as common as the latter. Before Jesus began his public ministry, the Gospels tell us, he fasted for 40 days in the wilderness.
In the early church, if anyone in the fellowship was hungry, it was common practice in some places for the whole community to go without until they could supply their brother or sister's need.
Today we who are used to grabbing a snack when we feel the slightest pang of hunger are not sure how to receive the blessing that belongs to "those who hunger and thirst for righteousness" (Matt. 5:6). Self-denial seems so puritanical. Why not just go ahead and take care of our own needs so we can love and serve others to the best of our ability?
The practice of fasting helps us get in touch with our truest desires. It is not mere self-denial, but rather an earnest preparation for the feast of beloved community. The Baptist radical Clarence Jordan used to say, "[F]asting is the opposite of slowing"; it is a "speeding up toward the kingdom." Just as an Olympic swimmer shaves to reduce drag in the water, followers of Jesus strip themselves of excess baggage and forgo meals now and again for the sake of rushing ahead toward the new creation that God is giving us even now.
Fasting also reminds us that a true feast is made not by plentiful food, but by plentiful fellowship. As Dorothy Day used to say, "Heaven is a banquet and life is a banquet, too, even with a crust, where there is companionship." Those who learn to hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed because they will be filled—not with the cheap comfort of the passing moment, but with the true Bread that satisfies.
Listening to Jesus
Anne Graham Lotz is an evangelist, author of Just Give Me Jesus, and daughter of Billy Graham.
The pressures of day-to-day responsibility, the news of crises in our world, and the problems I face within my family or ministry can unsettle me. My spirit gets overwhelmed; I can feel burdened and oppressed.
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Carlos Ramirez Trevino
The three disciplines, fasting, prayer, and meditation should be a given in every Christian's life. Unfortunately, we need to discipline ourselves to do the right thing at the right time. Not everyone has to follow the same pattern, but everyone should make an effort to be in constant communication with God and other believers. However, not everyone is asked to engage with the same level of commitment. The disciples that went with Jesus were specifically asked by Christ to join Him. Do we know whether the invitation went out to all the disciples? It didn't. Should every disciple have wanted to go? I would think so. Our comfort should lie in that while we weren't chosen to be one thing, we were chosen to be another. Pray constantly. Good article with lots of insight. Thanks.
Carlos Ramirez Trevino
The Church needs to grow in its understanding of the purpose of God for creation. The stories of the Old Testament are a reflection of God’s initiative against evil. We generally look at these stories as morals of the Christian faith. The question usually asked is, “How does that apply to my life?” Although that might be a valid approach to help steer, guide, and regulate our behavior, the bigger image suggests how the plan of God for the eradication of evil will unfold. When the people of Israel were initially sent to the land of the Philistines, for example, they were commanded by God not to leave any survivors. That even included the slaughter of all the animals in the barn houses of those who possessed the land. The significance of those events is that God’s purpose for this creation (a creation that includes a universe to sustain an earth where life can propagate, so God can work through humanity to totally eradicate corruption, evil, sin, disobedience, pain and suffering) cannot have any consideration for any kind of evil in creation. The eradication of evil has to be total. Nothing at all, no remnant of evil can remain in God’s new creation; in the new and incorruptible Jerusalem. A contemporary example will put this premise in perspective. When it is discovered that an animal is contaminated with a particularly dreadful disease such as swine flu, avian flu, mad cow and others, all of the animals in that particular fold have to be eliminated. Not a single one can remain alive because of the consequences of Spreading the infection to others that had not been affected. Likewise, to deal with the problem of evil, God has to totally eradicate every semblance of corruption. The entire universe is infected with a pandemic called corruption. After evil is totally vanquished, God will destroy everything that was related to this world and recreate it in total righteousness and incorruptibility. That is why Paul tells us that the Law is a shadow of what this new creation will be like. It will be a creation where even the potentiality of sin and corruption will not exist. That will be the new heaven and the new earth. How did the universe become infected with this pandemic? The Bible tells us that God exposed the universe to corruption through mankind, more specifically Adam and Eve. But the disease didn’t originate with man; it began with the angels. Men were just the instruments through which God would enter His creation to effect the eradication of corruption. Consequently, when we read the stories of the Old Testament we should keep in mind that they reveal God’s plan for the eradication of evil.
audrey ruth
It has seemed to me for years that relegating the Christian life to a series of disciplines reduces it to a dry-as-dust list of duties which HAVE to be performed for a demanding God, or else. While it is true we should all walk in obedience to Him, Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." The key word there is LOVE. As the Lord shows us clearly in 1 Corinthians 13, a 'perfect' life without love is NO good to God. It's all about relationship! As we abide in Him, and He in us, the Holy Spirit empowers us to walk in obedience out of LOVE and GRATITUDE for all He has done for us, desiring to see Him glorified in and through us. "We love Him because He first loved us."
Khalil Mansour
I am immensely grateful to those who discipled me when I first came to faith over 40 years ago. Yes, I had to “retrain” many of my habits, and having a daily devotional time of prayer and the reading of God’s word did not come easily at first, but when I once got into the practice, it ceased to be a “discipline”. It is, rather, a great privilege and I look forward with excitement to my daily 5:00 AM meeting with the Lord. It is my main “lifeline” and I cannot imagine walking in the Spirit, or ministering to others without meeting with God at the beginning of the day. It is indeed dangerous when well-known Christian leaders speak of this only as “discipline”, or something that you might do once a week. I also love to share with my Muslim friends what a dynamic relationship with God means through the living Word of God--something that is absent from their mentality and experience.
audrey ruth
I agree with Khalil, Daniel, and Rick. As for what's missing in the church/Christians' lives today, what I've observed for some time now is growing Biblical illiteracy among Christians. It seems that many Christians don't read their Bibles much. Some have told me this. They say they're too busy. If the Holy Spirit is active in our lives, if we haven't grieved Him so much that He's left us alone, we'll WANT to spend time with Him, prayerfully reading His Word and absorbing what He has for us deep into our spirits.