An Audience of One

I love my usual fast. It usually takes place from 11pm-9am, its called sleep. I almost always end it with breakFAST. Seriously, that's where the word came from; eating in the morning as a way of breaking a fast.  Sure it wasn't meant to be the only fast we do, but for most of us it is.

This past week our lead pastor gave a message on doing things for an Audience of One. Obviously, he was talking about about doing things for the audience of God and not others. He preached out of Matthew 6:1-18. It's a big section of the sermon on the mount revolving around doing good things privately.

The thing that really stood out to me in this passage is the portion of fasting. And it was the simple phrase "when you fast" - now I won't take it out of context and say its only about us supposed to be fasting, but its a teaching tool for when we fast.

Now back in the day they used to fast a lot, they did it is a sign of devotion to the cross, but how often do you do it now? If Jesus thought it was important enough to hit on in his biggest sermon, perhaps its something we should pay attention to.

Fasting is a great tool to be in the presence of God. It's a discipline we do not just to starve ourselves of something we like, but also to spend that time with God.

Fasting is a way to connect with God, to hear from God, to commune with God.

So the question really is, how often do you fast? Perhaps if you haven't been doing it, you should think about taking it up. Take one thing (whether its a meal of the day, your electronics, your sports game) and give it up... take the time you would be doing that thing and spend it with God.

If you take the time to do this, I guarantee you will have a better walk with Christ. He wants to be the first thing in your life, would it kill you to give something up for him?

-Kyle

P.S. If you have any health concerns or medical conditions check with your doctor before starting any food fasts.