What Is Fasting?

It might be painful to begin a devotional about fasting with this statistic, but a 2014 Huffington Post article relayed that Americans eat 20 billion donuts per year, which works out to 63 donuts per person annually.

Fasting may be the most un-American of all the spiritual disciplines.

We seldom talk about it in our churches or our small groups.

Or it’s a topic only reserved for special occasions like Lent. Even then, only certain denominations place an emphasis on observing the Lenten season.

But the Bible repeatedly mentions fasting.

If we’re concerned with following God’s instructions for growing closer to him, we would do well to understand fasting and the purpose it may serve in our lives.

First, let’s define fasting.

In a strictly biblical sense, fasting is abstaining from food for spiritual purposes. For example, in Daniel 10:3, Daniel specifically fasts from “delicacies,” “meat,” and “wine.” Other times, fasting may refer to abstaining from all food, as in the case of Jesus (Luke 4:2).

A more lax definition would say that fasting can involve abstaining from anything for a spiritual purpose. This definition is often applied at Lent, when a Christian chooses to give up soda or social media or negative self-talk for the forty days of Lent in order to focus on their spiritual life.

While such sacrifices are admirable, the biblical definition of fasting almost always involves the voluntary giving up of food in order to focus on God.

So, over the next four days, let’s discuss why giving up those 63 donuts could draw you closer to God.