Fasting for Yourself or God?

It is a tragedy the Christian life for many is an ever-increasing litany of "do's and don'ts."  People focused on external works of doing good or avoiding sin forms their own identity and sets them at odds with fellow believers.  Don't misunderstand:  we ought to be obedient to the commands of our Saviour, and we also ought to put off sinful deeds, thoughts, and motives.  What defines a Christian is not what he does or doesn't do, but Jesus Christ who has saved him!  Being born again by grace through faith is an supernatural inner work by the Holy Spirit of God which will certainly be perceived outwardly.

The Jews set a very high standard of outward obedience to the Law.  Amazingly complex and technical definitions of sin were established and observed according to oral tradition, and man taught as Law the traditions of the elders.  In the book of Zechariah, God pointed out prolonged fasts the Jews observed even in captivity.  Zechariah 7:4-6 reads, "Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, ⁵ "Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me--for Me? ⁶ When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves?"  As always, God went straight to the heart of the matter.  It was all fine and good for people to fast in the fifth and seventh months, yet God questioned their motives in doing so.  What was His gauge for their sincerity?  He did not judge them pious because they did not eat - but because when they did eat they ate for themselves.  This is a earth-shattering truth.  Their denial of food was viewed as self-serving and insincere because that is how they lived the other 10 months out of the year.

Now I am not saying it is wrong in itself to observe traditions like Lent or fasting from meat, the idea being to "give something up" in devotion to God.  Some believe self-denial is a path to inner change, but this concept is not demonstrated anywhere in scripture.  We need to be made new creations as Galatians 6:15 says, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation."  Fasting is good if done according to the leading of the Holy Spirit in obedience.  Whenever you eat - at any hour anytime - do you eat as unto the LORD?  Whether we eat or do not eat, we are to do so unto the LORD (Romans 14:5-9).  What a ridiculous sham it would be to diligently fast three days a week from all food and water, yet live for yourself the other four days.  Such a life lived for self proves the fast was not for God at all!  God is the God of those who fast as well as those who eat.  Some think God is pleased with our willing self-denial of food, but God would rather us permanently fast from sin.  God spoke through the prophet in Isaiah 58:5-7, "Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? ⁶ Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? ⁷ Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?"

Let us keep the feast as well as the fast God spoke of.  Our aim not to be "social justice" but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8).  Should we walk in God's ways Isaiah 58:8-11 says, "Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. ⁹ Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.' "If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, ¹⁰ if you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. ¹¹ The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."  So who are you fasting for:  God or yourself?  It is your life apart from fasting which demonstrates if you are fasting for God or yourself!  Who do you suppose gives better rewards?