I’m not sure what this fasting is for

With Lent coming, I thought I would reflect on fasting and maybe make a plan. I am not a particularly disciplined person. I do not stick to a routine easily, even for straightforward things like brushing my teeth at the same time every day. This is why I like jobs with set hours, and events booked in advance. The structure encourages me to create further structure around them. I thank God that I have a job at this time – for all the obvious reasons, but also because it gives me structure.

Fasting was never going to be easy for me. It is not something I have effectively managed to do yet. I have done ‘modern’ fasting like abstaining from social media for 40 days, but I have never effectively abstained from food, unless I did it by accident!

There has always been the doubt in my mind about the purpose of fasting. It is an ancient practice for all sorts of people of faith, but as someone who believes in the sacrificial grace of Christ on the cross I cannot see what my fasting is supposed to achieve. Will God bow to my will now I am hungry? Will it really bring me closer to God?…

Commitment-Phobe is a Christian

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This is an extract from an article published in the March 2021 edition of Reform

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