They say fasting is good for you, but the word “fasting” does not always mean the same thing.

There are many different forms of fasting. When someone tells you they are fasting, you really need to know what they mean by that.

Recently I had a conversation with my daughter about fasting. She told me she’s been doing intermittent fasting. When I heard the word “fasting”, the image I got in my head was that there was no food involved for a day or two days or longer. 

But that’s not what she was talking about. 

The thing is that we throw around the word “fast” like it’s well defined and a highly disciplined thing. 

For instance, right now the Muslim faith is in the middle of Ramadan. That is a month of fasting for them. When you hear that, you might think they are so committed and disciplined, but that you could never do it. You might wonder why you couldn’t be so committed to what you believe in. 

Well, what’s not necessarily communicated is that when muslims fast for a month, they fast during the day, but each night they have a big meal in celebration. 

With that information, you realize you could fast for a month if you could still eat every day. You would actually really enjoy that one meal you ate and look forward to it all day. 

When I was a youth pastor we did a 30-hour famine to raise money for World Relief. 

For the teens, it was a major commitment to fast for 30 hours. Yet in all the years we did it, we never lost a single student to starvation. 

Fasting is not something that I have readily done … maybe because I get hypoglycaemic. My blood sugar gets low and my body starts craving food. 

You’ve heard the word “hangry” – a combination of hungry and angry. That describes someone who is having a hypoglycaemic episode. My wife has to put up with a hangry husband most evenings when I come home from work. I need food, pretty much right when I get in the door. 

My daughter, Karlie, has the same condition I do, and she has recently discovered that intermittent fasting is working for her. 

When I heard her say intermittent fasting, what I thought of was fasting one day a week, or fasting one day and then again two days later. That sounds like intermittent to me. 

But that’s not what intermittent fasting is. It’s actually delaying your eating until later in the day. Basically, Karlie doesn’t eat her first meal of the day until lunch time. 

I used to do that when I was young, but I called it, “not eating breakfast”. I never associated it with fasting in any way. 

So when people tell you they are fasting, don’t think they are being heroic, or showing unbelievable discipline or dedication. 

Ask them a followup question like, “What kind of fasting are you doing?”

Here’s the thing: People fast in many forms for many different reasons. But about two thousand years ago, Jesus fasted for 40 days – no food. That fast was to wear Him down to be tested, tested to see if in a weakened state He would be faithful to the will of God, His Father. And Jesus passed the test. Later He passed the ultimate test by going to the cross to pay for our sins. You can trust Him.

That’s life!

Paul

Question: What reasons have you fasted for? Leave your comments and questions below. 

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