Creatures of Habit: Fastingনমুনা

Fasting: The Hope of the Habit 

How preoccupied are you with the pursuit of enough? Trying to secure enough time, enough money, enough opportunity, enough stuff? Now, I didn’t say the pursuit of extravagant wealth. I just said, “enough.” But that’s the tricky thing about enough. What is enough? It is a moving target. It is a subjective and slippery business. 

We can waste our lives worrying and striving for enough. And it’s actually no wonder why. Because for all of us, there have been (or currently are) seasons where it seems like there is not enough! That bill is too big, the time is too short, the pantry is too empty, the distance is too far, the grief is too deep, the need is too great. It seems like there is never enough. It is easy to lose hope. So, what does this have to do with fasting?

In Luke chapter 14 we read the parable of the Great Banquet. We could spend countless hours looking at the beautiful and profound depth of this story, but I want to focus in on one small phrase. After the initial invitations to the banquet were rejected, the master sends his servant out into the streets and alleys to bring in “the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame” (verse 21). After these people have been brought into the banquet, the servant goes to his master and says this…

“‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room’” (Luke 14:22). 

There is still room.

At the master’s table there is still room for anyone who will come. There is enough. 

As we fast, we fight against the lie that there is not enough. 

The kingdom of God is not built on scarcity, but abundance. We do not have to spend our lives grasping greedily for our share. At our Master’s table there is enough. 

Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10b). 

Full, abundant life. That’s the offer. That’s the hope. As we choose to go without something, as we fast, we embrace that hope. 

• What are you grasping for in your life right now?
• How does hope affect your ability to continue in this habit of fasting?

Read from Luke 14:15-24 and John 10:7-10. Take hope, there is room for you at your Master’s table!