Fasting

Every year, Christians of various denominations observe Lent, a six-week period ahead of Easter, where participants "give something up" while pursuing a closer relationship with God. Usually, when someone decides what they will be giving up, they will pick a habit, food, or hobby that they enjoy enough that it will be significantly missed throughout the period of Lent. That way, its absence is extremely noticeable (and even a little uncomfortable) as they make such a substantial shift in their typical day-to-day. Then, the yearning for what has been given up works as a reminder to turn to God and recognize how He truly meets all needs.

For those who observe Lent annually, it can be challenging to think of new ideas of what they will give up each winter. Trying to figure out what you'll be giving up for Lent this year? Here are 10 meaningful things to give up for Lent:

1. Complaining – Take the opportunity to choose gratitude over grumbling.

2. Sweet treats – It will help your health and be a reminder that only God truly sustains us.

3, Television – Stop the small screen binge and grow in your spiritual life instead.

4. Screen Time – Spend less time checking friends’ updates and check in with Christ.

5. Gossiping – It’s easy to insult or judge others. Instead, tame your tongue biblically.

6. Video games – Instead of fantasy worlds of adventure, read the real-life stories of the Bible.

7. Shopping – Decide not to store up treasures in your closet, but store them up in heaven.

8. Coffee – Instead of facing the world with caffeine, learn to rely on God.

9. Soda – Every time you think about grabbing that fizzy drink, use it as a reminder to pray.

10. Worrying – You can’t stop worry completely, but choose to go to God with it instead.

Possible Preaching Angles:

This a good way to set up a sermon on Lent or spiritual disciplines.

With a love for cultivating an “old-fashioned” life and returning to what truly matters, a mom of three encouraged her kids to adopt a “TV fast” for three months. Jill Winger lives on a 67-acre family homestead in Wyoming with her husband, Christian Winger, and their three kids: Mesa(13), Bridger (10), and Sage (7).

We didn’t really watch a ton of TV, we just had Netflix and Hulu. My kids would watch shows an hour and a half in the afternoons. Then because we have long winters in Wyoming, our family would kind of default to the TV in the evenings after supper.

Mrs. Winger began asking herself, “What other activities is the TV displacing?” She posed the question to her husband and kids, and together they made a decision: They would go on a TV fast. “Three months, from December 1, 2022, to March 1, 2023, we would not watch any TV. We just said, ‘Let’s experiment with what happens.’”

Shockingly, I expected more pushback; the kids were not super upset. I think they knew that they were turning on the TV kind of mindlessly, without really enjoying it. So, when we told them our plan, they were kind of like, “OK, we’ll try it!”

Together, the family discussed what to do with the time freed up by quitting TV. One of the first ideas to emerge was reading books together. Another impulse that emerged was to learn new hobbies. The three kids together taught themselves chess, started cooking more, and became more engaged in homesteading activities.

When the family reached the end of their TV fast on March 1, they sat down to discuss the experience and came to a surprising conclusion: They wanted to continue. They decided to set aside special time once or twice a month to watch a movie as a family and preserve their newfound free time for hobbies and creative pursuits. She insists that it’s not crucial to live on a homestead; even in the city, there are free resources, such as outdoor play, board games, and local libraries.

A TV “fast,” by definition, is finite. “It could be a week, it could be a month ... pick your time,” Mrs. Winger said. “Then I think it’s really important to have a conversation with the whole family, to get everybody on board and help them understand why you’re doing this.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

While we all may not live on a 67-acre homestead or have three children, we can learn a lot from this family. Whether we are adults or youth, we all spend too much time on our screens and waste many hours that could be put to better use, whether learning a new skill or hobby, in fellowship with others, or in serving the Lord.

A woman from Omsk, Russia, is reportedly suing McDonald's over an advertisement featuring cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets, which she said caused her to break her fast during Lent. Ksenia Ovchinnikova, an Orthodox Christian, said she was trying to stay away from meat and other animal products during the six-week period leading up to Easter.

She said, “When I saw an advertising banner, I could not help myself. I visited McDonald's and bought a cheeseburger.” In her official complaint, she explains: “In the actions of McDonald's, I see a violation of the consumer protection law. I ask the court to investigate and, if a violation has taken place, to oblige McDonald's to compensate me for moral damage in the amount of one thousand rubles ($14 US dollars).”

Did you know that Emperor penguins spend about 4 months fasting as they watch over, care for, and incubate their eggs? This is a 100 to a 115 day fast! If a penguin can spend 100 days not eating because it instinctually loves and is waiting for its baby penguin, we can spend a meal or a day or a week fasting out of our love for Jesus. Don’t let the penguins beat us!

Possible Preaching Angle:

This can be used as creative tip to engage people in the topic of fasting.

John Piper writes: “My own serious consideration of fasting as a spiritual discipline began as a result of visiting Dr. Joon Gon Kim in Seoul, Korea. ‘Is it true,’ I asked him, ‘that you spent 40 days in fasting prior to the evangelism crusade in 1980?’ ‘Yes,’ he responded, ‘it is true.’”

Dr. Kim was chairman of the crusade expected to bring a million people to Yoido Plaza. But six months before the meeting the police informed him they were revoking their permission for the crusade. Korea at that time was in political turmoil and Seoul was under martial law. The officers decided they could not take the risk of having so many people together in one place. So Dr. Kim and some associates went to a prayer mountain and there spent 40 days before God in prayer and fasting for the crusade. Then they returned and made their way to the police station. “Oh,” said the officer when he saw Dr. Kim, “we have changed our mind and you can have your meeting!”

Until recently, the only way to study how a caterpillar changes into a butterfly was to cut open the chrysalis or x-ray it—both with fatal results. But a recent issue of National Geographic reported on new micro-CT scans that show how metamorphosis takes place.

Metamorphosis is a radical change in form and function. Many animals go through this process (frogs, sea urchins, wasps, beetles), but most of us know about metamorphosis from caterpillars that become butterflies. Yet scientists are only beginning to grasp the miracle of what goes on in a chrysalis. New research shows that the insect’s makeover is a mix of destruction of old ways of being and thinking combined with brand new ways of being and thinking.

The article notes that, “Certain cells die, and body parts atrophy. Meanwhile, other cells, in place since birth, rapidly expand.” The adult emerges “completely remodeled, capable of flight” and possessing a completely rewired brain.

Possible Preaching Angles:

New Birth; Spiritual Growth; Sanctification; Renewal—In the same way, our new birth in Christ causes certain sins and bad habits to die and atrophy while new habits and thoughts emerge. We become “completely remodeled” in Christ. And yet, this doesn’t happen overnight. The process of sanctification takes time.

At your local Starbucks you have lots of options. You could start by ordering a Tall, Non-Fat Latte With Caramel Drizzle. Or a Grande, Iced, Sugar-Free, Vanilla Latte With Soy Milk. Or how about a Decaf, Soy Latte With An Extra Shot And Cream, or a Non-Fat Frappuccino With Extra Whipped Cream And Chocolate Sauce? But don't forget the Venti Iced Skinny Hazelnut Macchiato, Sugar-Free Syrup, Extra Shot, Light Ice, No Whip.

According to Starbuck's global chief marketing officer, the company offers more than 80,000 drink combinations. And that's to say nothing of the food items you can order in addition to your drink. We've all become so accustomed to the hyper-customization Starbucks offers, but would happen if they came out one day and said, "You know what, this whole thing has gotten out of control. From now on, you'll be able to order just regular and decaf at all of our locations.' They wouldn't stay in business for very long.

The spiritual disciplines … are so easy that any adult human being can do them. There are no particular skills required to be alone, to be silent, or to abstain from food. Yet on the other hand, they are so difficult, and so perfectly calibrated to reveal the true condition of our hearts, that no one can "succeed" at them. Indeed, the secret of the classical spiritual disciplines, and all disciplines that tame power, is how reliably they lay waste to whatever sense we may have of ourselves as competent agents in the world.

Take fasting and food, where I can offer a personal testimony to the humbling effect of the disciplines. My annual fasts during the seasons of Advent and Lent are darkly comical reminders of how completely undisciplined I truly am in my relationship with food. No matter how minimal the fast I set out to practice—one Lent it simply was leaving milk out of my tea—I find that I am almost never able to keep it to the end. Among the most pitiful moments of my life was that day, about two weeks into Lent, when I desperately and furtively opened the refrigerator, fully aware that I was breaking the most minimal fast conceivable but feeling completely unable to go on without milk in my tea. It was the sweetest, and the bitterest, cup of tea I have ever had.

When we practice the spiritual disciplines, we discover how deep runs our commitment to our own autonomy and comfort, and how addicted we are to the approval of others, the sound of our own voice, and the satisfaction of our appetites.

Macrina Wiederkehr writes in “A Tree Full of Angels”:

Fasting makes me vulnerable and reminds me of my frailty. It reminds me to remember that if I am not fed I will die … Standing before God hungry, I suddenly know who I am. I am one who is poor, called to be rich in a way that the world does not understand. I am one who is empty, called to be filled with the fullness of God. I am one who is hungry, called to taste all the goodness that can be mine in Christ.

The Week magazine runs a column called "What's Next?," a regular contest based on current events. In a recent issue they asked readers to submit answers to the following question:

The late TV chef Anthony Bourdain advised: "Your body is not a temple, it's an amusement park. Enjoy the ride." What would be a good name for a theme park ride based on the typical American's body?

Here were some of the best answers:

• Sedentary Mountain
• Cholester-Roll
• Plumper Cars
• Tunnel of Love Handles
• The Tragic Kingdom
• The Expanding Universe
• SORRY—ride closed due to poor maintenance

Every year the average American eats 33 pounds of cheese and 70 pounds of sugar. On average, 11 percent of our diet comes from saturated fats. Every day we eat 8,500 milligrams of salt—that's four whopping teaspoons of salt. In his book Salt Sugar Fat, Michael Moss shows that during the past two decades some of America's largest food producers carefully studied how to "help" us crave all this junk food. For example, some of the food industries biggest names--including Cambell Soup, General Foods, Kraft, PepsiCo, and Cadbury--hired "crave consultants" like the scientist Dr. Howard Moskowitz to help them determine our "bliss points," the point where food compainies can "optimize" our cravings.

Or as another example, Frito-Lay, makers of Lay's potato chips and the 21 varieties of Cheetos, operated a research complex near Dallas that employed nearly 500 chemists, psychologists, and technicians and spent up to $30 million a year to find the bliss point for their junk foods. One food scientist called Cheetos "one of the most marvelously constructed foods on the planet, in terms of pure pleasure." Cheetos has what's called "vanishing caloric density." In other words because it melts down quickly, your brain thinks that there's no calories in it, and you think you can just keep eating forever.

Interestingly, many of the former executives who Moss interviewed for his book avoid the foods they tried to get us to eat. Howard Moskowitz doesn't drink Pepsi products because he claims "[soda's] not good for your teeth." A Frito-Lay executive admitted to Moss that he avoids most processed foods—like Cheetos. Moss concluded, "Like other former food company executives I met, [this Frito-Lay executive] overhauled his diet to avoid the very foods he once worked so hard to perfect."

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Temptation, Desire—There are powerful forces at work trying to shape, direct, and distort our desires towards things and habits that aren't good for our bodies, souls, or minds. (2) Gluttony; Fasting—This story can illustrate why it's hard to fast and easy to be gluttonous in our culture. (3) False Teaching—Sometimes false teachers promulgate doctrine and views of the world that even they can't live by.

The next time you watch television take note of the number of commercials about food. A recent study found that in 96 half-hour blocks of preschool programming on Nickelodeon, the Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network there were a total of 130 food-related advertisements. Children see nearly 5,000 TV food ads every year, and teenagers get bombarded by almost 6,000 annually.

But the food ads aren't just for kids. In an experiment conducted by Yale University researchers, adults who saw TV ads for unhealthy foods ate much more than those who saw ads that featured messages about good nutrition or healthy food. During the 2012 Winter Olympics, one observer noted that about half of all the ads were about food, most often for fast-food restaurants. When you add to that the rise of reality shows centered on cooking and restaurants, it seems that we are obsessed with food and eating.

Exposure to this barrage of food ads is often implicated in the rise of obesity rates, but it also has a huge impact on the spiritual discipline of fasting. In other words, it's tough to fast when you're constantly bombarded by the lure of food in our culture.

With the beginning of the Russian Orthodox Lenten season, the church has advocated that devotees fast from social media. According to a spokesman, "Even useful information, that relates to our work and well-meaning interests, clogs the brain and soul too much." He offers an alternative: "Giving yourself several hours or 15 minutes of time during Lent to not read curses on social networks, but serious texts, serious art, prayer, unhurried conversation with close ones—this is a unique chance to change your life."

Possible Preaching Angle:

Increasingly, the relationship between technology and the spiritual disciplines highlights the role that media plays in our soul's life and development. We need to realize that media can change our life and spiritual habits.

On April 18, 1942, Army Corporal Jacob DeShazer boarded a bomber plane with his pilot, Lieutenant William Farrow, and a co-pilot, navigator, and rear gunner. Their mission was to bomb Tokyo and its surrounding cities. When the mission was accomplished, they were to land on the shores of enemy territory and elude the opposing forces as they awaited further instructions. The bombing was a success, but they never received word as to where they were to land. With fuel running low, Lt. Farrow gave the order for all on board to jump. DeShazer made a safe landing and was taken prisoner by ten Japanese soldiers shortly thereafter. Though his life was spared, he was tortured ruthlessly before being placed into solitary confinement at a filthy prison camp. DeShazer remained in captivity for almost two years, struggling with starvation and illness. After one of his fellow prisoners died of dysentery, Japanese authorities increased the rations of food and allowed the prisoners to have reading material, including the Bible. Because there was only one Bible, DeShazer had to wait six months to get his turn with it. Finally, when his turn came, DeShazer read the Scriptures over and over again. Though raised in a Christian home, he had never accepted Christ. On the final day he was allowed to have the Bible, he read Romans 10:9 once more, confessed his belief in Christ, and begged for forgiveness. DeShazer had been converted to a follower of Christ. Immediately he realized this demanded changes in his life—both while in a prison camp and beyond (should he ever be released). In an article on DeShazer's life for Today's Christian, Elsie J. Larson shares what happened next:

Bad habits and attitudes don't just go away when a person accepts Christ. One day after the exercise period, DeShazer's guard hurried him toward his cell, shoved him inside, slamming the door on DeShazer's foot. Instead of opening the door, the guard kicked the prisoner's foot with his hobnailed boots.

DeShazer desperately pushed the door until he could free his foot. His mind blazed with rage.

However, Jesus' words came to him: "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them, which despitefully use you."

Nursing his foot, DeShazer wished for a while that his mind would go blank; instead, all the Scripture God had helped him memorize flooded into his mind. Calming down, he decided, God commanded me to love. What a wonderful world it would be if we would all try to love one another. I'll try.

The next morning was the test. DeShazer greeted the guard respectfully in Japanese.

The guard gave him a puzzled look and said nothing.

Every morning, the prisoner offered friendly greetings and received no response. Then one morning the guard walked straight to DeShazer's cell, and spoke to him through the door. He was smiling. DeShazer asked about his family. From that time on, the guard treated him with respect and kindness, and once even brought him a boiled sweet potato. Another time, the guard slipped DeShazer figs and candy.

A year after his conversion, in June 1945, the Americans were transferred to a prison in Beijing (Peking). Conditions were worse than in Nanjing (Nanking). DeShazer nearly died of starvation and disease, but he grew spiritually. Like the prophet Daniel, he knelt and prayed diligently.

On August 6, 1945, the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, DeShazer woke up about 7 A.M. and was impressed to pray for peace. At 2 P.M., the Holy Spirit told the prisoner, "You don't need to pray any more. The victory is won." DeShazer thought this was a better way to receive world news than waiting for a radio report. Immediately, his thoughts turned to his captors. Wondering what would happen to the Japanese people, God gave him the answer: he was to eventually return to Japan and teach them about his Savior.

In 1948, Jacob DeShazer returned to Japan with his wife, Florence, as a missionary. By that time, Army chaplains had distributed more than a million tracts containing DeShazer's testimony titled, "I Was a Prisoner of the Japanese." Thousands of Japanese people wanted to see the man who could forgive his enemies. In his first few months in Japan, the former [bomber] had spoken in two hundred places. Soon he, with his wife Florence, helped Japanese Christians to establish churches.

Although the church planting was going well, early in 1950, DeShazer longed for a revival for Japan. He fasted 40 days, praying for the salvation of the Japanese.

A few days after he ended his fast, a man came to his home and introduced himself—Mitsuo Fuchida, flight commander of the 360 planes that attacked Pearl Harbor. After reading DeShazer's testimony, Fuchida had purchased a New Testament, read it, and had accepted Christ.

DeShazer welcomed him as a brother and counseled him to be baptized. Within a short time, Fuchida became an evangelist, preaching in Japan and all over the world.

In 1959 a dream came true for DeShazer when he moved to Nagoya to establish a Christian church in the city he had bombed. Because of one shared Bible, the man who first came to [bomb] Japan…returned on the wings of a dove to spread the "peace that passeth understanding" in that country for the next thirty years.