Day 4 - "Why a Fast? - Part II"

Scripture:
"But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place--unless you repent." - Revelation 2:4, 5

I have always found this text somewhat elusive. It appears simple but it actually has significant complexities. Regardless as to where one falls in the handling of it there is an idea that appears foundational, “You are no longer where you once were and you need to repent in order to get back to that initial state.”

For the Christian, we can never fall from our standing in Christ. Yet it is possible because of the clutter to lose sight of His Story. Our circumstances provide numerous occasions for our flesh to call into question God’s control and in that control His wisdom and goodness.

In order for us to break the stronghold our circumstances might have on us and to shake us from our fixation on the temporal we are invited to fast from the temporal and to seek the eternal. Fasting is no mandatory or even perhaps necessary, but for some it is the only means of snapping them back to their biblical reality.
Why is this so? Sometimes we find ourselves “addicted” to “things” and these “things” like the giant python slowly and almost imperceptibly squeeze from us our life. By the time we awaken to our danger, it is almost too late. Foolishly we make “pets” of our addictions. Yet hear me out. Fasting from the temporal is a call to go “cold turkey”. It is a call for complete abstinence. Addicts cannot tolerate that which holds them in bondage. They must eliminate it from their life.

As you consider your life perhaps you will find some significant inroads the temporal has made in your life. Perhaps there are areas where God is being choked out. Maybe you’ve stopped reading your Bible or engaging in meaningful prayer or avoided the assembling of yourself together with others on Sunday morning or a life group or perhaps you no longer give financially (remember giving is a regular means of breaking the stronghold money has on all of us). I do not know what your particular “python” is, but chances are you (and I) have one if not several.

Our call is for all of us to go back to the simplicity of knowing Christ and loving His Church (2 Cor. 11:3). May this time find you exercised in the pursuit.

by - Pastor Pat Griffiths