Viewing entries tagged
fasting
We often see food as a guilty pleasure or a craving to be conquered. We’re either eating with indulgence or restraining as a punishment. What if we could embrace both sides of the Bible’s calls to celebration and discipline in our relationship with food? The practices of fasting and feasting may hold the key to the balance God has designed.
The ancient church thought so much about food that they made gluttony one of the seven deadly sins. Today, many Christians have very little idea about what the Bible teaches about food at all. As a result, Christian attitudes toward food are mostly dictated by our appetite, the latest diets, or either guilt or ambition about the shape of our bodies. This post gives an overview of the Bible’s teachings toward a theology of food.
Today, it’s more common to hear about people fasting for non-religious reasons than for religious ones. The 5:2 diet, the 16/8 method and the warrior diet all incorporate fasts with an aim to weight loss and improved health. But the popularity of the methods may outweigh the actual research of their health benefits. Regardless, it probably says something about our culture that people are more apt to fast for their body than they are for their soul. In the Bible, fasting simply involves voluntarily going without food for a day or more in order to set aside time for prayer and express your hunger for God and desperation to hear from Him. If you haven’t been introduced to biblical fasting, or if it’s been a while since you fasted yourself, let me give you some encouragements from Scripture.
