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Day 5: Comfort Eating

Food is a gift from God. Good food makes people feel good. However, our relationship with food is not always healthy. Food can serve as a comfort to deal with negative emotions or boredom. The beauty of fasting is that it exposes the damaging relationship some have with food.

When you fast, you cannot resort to food to alleviate your negative emotions, so you have to face them head-on. When we turn to food in times of stress and anxiety as a source of emotional relief and pleasure, we make it an idol. Food was made to nourish our bodies, not to comfort us. When you do this, you run the risk of also falling into gluttony.

Instead of dealing with these toxic emotions by eating, bring them to the Holy Spirit and share them with the Father. He is the only One in whom we have comfort.

Fasting is an affliction of the soul, not the body. Fasting puts our soul in the backseat, where it belongs, and helps us move from soulish Christians to spiritual Christians.

Let's Pray:

Father, forgive me for falling into idolatry and gluttony. I have sinned by seeking relief and comfort in food and, at times, eating and drinking too much. Thank you for exposing the things in my heart that do not please You. I surrender to You, Holy Spirit. I want to find comfort in You alone, always.