The scripture for today, August 21 (8/21), is Ezra 8:21a as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
“There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God.”
In our modern society, does anyone fast anymore? Not drinking our food (juice) for a day and calling that a fast, but a true fast where we drink only water to stay hydrated, but that’s all. And we turn off all computers, phones, radios, and televisions for the day.
Jesus said in his sermon on the mount, “When you fast….” (Matthew 6:16). He didn’t say, “If you fast….” No, he assumed his followers would fast. Do we?
If we do, do we do it as a group? Fasting is an act of self-restraint. It belongs to the sphere of humble self-discipline and deep inner understanding. It is strictly a personal and private matter. All moral and bodily restraint, all humbleness of body and spirit are represented by fasting, and it is a complete failure of self-restraint to want to show the world our self-restraint. An unknown author wrote this:
- Let us keep our fast within,
- Till heaven and we are quite alone;
- Then let the grief, the shame, the sin,
- Before the mercy-seat be thrown.
Fasting is a way of facing our true deep-down selves. When we starve ourselves temporarily, we are saying, “God, I would sacrifice all my food and more for you; I would die for you.” Or, “God, I would trade lives with this person I am fasting for to give them rest if it were possible. I would even die for this person.” It is a deep expression to God that goes beyond words. Take the challenge.
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#fasting, #food, #restraint, #sacrifice, #self-examination, #love, #martyrdom, #life, #death #relief
“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living IN YOU, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives IN YOU.”
“These are the regulations for the guilt offering, which is most holy. The guilt offering is to be slaughtered in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, and its blood is to be sprinkled against the altar on all sides.”
“God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.”
“But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.”
“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: Not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
“If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us.”
“[God] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions ~ it is by grace you have been saved.”