Well, the Grace Police haven’t said anything about yesterday’s post. But whenever you deal with specifics you borderline on what Foster calls “precision without legalism.”
So in that vain, I’d like to say a few more things, then leave this food business to you and yours.
“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)
“Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls.” (Romans 14:4)
God is our Master. If we start to become each other’s master, comparing and competing in this or any other category, we will be in bondage to each other.
The point?
In the Word, fasting has several different uses. The two I feel compelled toward are:
Repentance
and
Preparation
Repentance for how I’ve been handling food (and spending) for the last several months.
But the one I’m really pumped about is the Preparation part.
We live in a time on God’s kingdom calendar marked by a movement of His Spirit that is picking up steam. He is mobilizing His Body to be His hands and feet in so many areas. Often, before He works through us, He works in us.
Remember when Joshua told the Israelites:
“Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”
We can be set apart so He can use us. So our heads are on straight and our hearts are correctly focused. So we are ready when He says, “join me where I’m working here.” So we’re aware that all our discipline and efforts have been a mercy from Him that He’s used to prepare us. So He gets the glory and we get caught up in the joy of joining Him. So “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
I think the idea of God’s kingdom can get confusing. Leave it the The Jesus Storybook Bible to simplify things.
“God’s kingdom is anywhere God is king.”
From Jen:
“When Jesus’ ways are emulated and mercy wins, when justice rolls like a mighty river and truth is declared. Anywhere God’s rule has dominion, in any moment when His way is chosen over our human instinct, His kingdom breaks through.
Jesus gave us the best glimpse into the kingdom by walking around on earth. We get to watch what this new way of living looks like, how it sounds, who it belongs to, how it is spoken, where it is willing to reach.
We see that it owns very, very little but gives very, very much. We notice that it is often unsafe and wanders into dangerous territory, even if we write that off as inapplicable to us.
We see the kingdom committed to unlikely folks at the bottom of the food chain: children, lepers, women, homeless people, and the way it got there was by Jesus actually going there, walking there with His feet and touching people with His hands.
We watch it draw a disproportionate level of criticism from religious people; it looked very different from the hierarchy inside the temple.
Its best moments were on hillsides, in rivers, around dinner tables, at funerals, on roadsides, in sick rooms, in boats – we don’t actually see Jesus sequestered in the temple much.
It’s this way of life, the way Jesus did it, full of courage and risk and sacrifice and back-breaking mercy that we are asked to accept.”
He wants to use us. He wants us to be prepared. He wants us to become more like Him in character, in our hearts, down to the marrow of our bones.
Fast from anything toward this end.