Yet ANOTHER Fast
I have a good friend I have grown up with, who is incredibly close to God. Like super, super close to God. The kind of friend you ask to pray for you when you have an exam; the one who ends up moving God to give you a High Distinction when you really deserve to fail. The kind who would attend an overnight prayer vigil and then go home to read the Bible. He never wants to miss a Church service, and everyone is just waiting for him to make his way to the monastery to become a monk. In all the years I’ve known him, he has always followed the Church’s rules and guidance to the letter! If the church so much as even hinted that something should be done, he did it.
All of this made it all the more shocking one day, when I heard him whinge about something in the Church: the Apostles’ fast! I remember him asking, “Yet another fast? What is it about this fast that makes it so hard!” (It didn’t help that Easter had come really early that year, which meant that the Apostle’s fast was extra-long, even longer than Nativity fast that year!) But what was amazing was that one week later, he was beaming and genuinely excited about the Apostles’ fast!
I was really confused by his change in attitude. He told me that he had attended a sermon where someone had explained the Apostles’ fast to him, and it had changed his perspective completely. The Apostles’ fast is our chance to actually do something for the spread of the Gospel and for our church. When we fast most fasts, we are focusing on ourselves, our repentance, our relationship with God. But when we fast the Apostles’ fast, we are really focusing on the spread of the Gospel to others. We are fasting so that God would use our Church to reach those do not yet know Him, exactly like the early Apostles fasted and were used to preach His name all over the Earth. We are fasting so that the Lord prepares our hearts to go out and reveal Him to the world! When we look at it this way, all of a sudden it doesn’t seem such a burden to fast!
When I stop myself from reaching for that chocolate this fast, let my heart lift to God and say, “Lord, I am happy to stop myself enjoying this temporary sweetness, so that others may come to enjoy the sweetness of knowing You”.
When my mouth waters with longing for the latest McDonalds burger that has been released on day 1 of the fast as usual, let my heart lift to God and say, “Lord, my longing is that people would taste and see that You are good!”
When I ask the barista to make my coffee without milk next time, let my heart lift to God and say, “Lord, use this fast to lead people to the Heavenly promised land, that flows with milk and honey”.
Let us all pray that this Apostles’ fast is different to every one we have fasted so far. Let us pray that God uses it for the spread of His message to all the ends of the world, so that we can all one day join the eternal glory (where fasting ends forever ?).