Have you ever tried giving up your phone for a day? Did you notice how often you attempted to reach for it in your pocket or impulsively want to check Facebook? Fasting from our devices is not easy, right?
It’s amazing how attached we get to small things. It’s not too big of a deal, until over time we realize just how many of those small things we have become attached to.
Recently I was wondering why I wasn’t feeling well rested, or completely at peace in life. I had taken time outdoors and let myself get unplugged from the norm. This usually lets me recharge but when I came back I still felt tired and anxious. Why?
In my personal prayer one morning, Jesus pointed it out. He showed me that this wasn’t an outside problem but an interior one.
I was filling myself with too many worldly things and habits, and not with Him.
This world has produced so many things that focus on the individual that it has become what some call, “the iWorld.”
“What can I get out of this? What do I want to do? How does this affect me? Everything is made to make my life easier and to make me feel loved and fulfilled. The problem is that when our target is on short term happiness, we end up getting long term emptiness. True happiness doesn’t come from pleasure, it comes from God.
God, who is love provides true happiness. I’m not talking about a worldly, gushy, good feeling love that the culture offers us. No, I’m talking about that true, deep, sacrificial, love that can only come from living a life of virtue and discipline.
Now, that’s tough, huh? True happiness coming from discipline? That doesn’t feel good. Though, after some experience and thought, we realize that it’s true. That feeling of putting yourself 3rd behind God and others is so good. To be able to gladly give to people who are in need and not be attached to “my” things is so good. We are constantly adding things to fill the void we feel. We have an infinite longing. We attempt to fill that infinite longing with an infinite number of things but we run out. Only an infinite God can fill our infinite longing.
Many Christians take the 40 days before Easter to prepare their hearts to fully appreciate the resurrection by fasting.
In this time, it’s common to see people fasting from candy, meat, TV, etc. Fasting is essentially emptying ourselves of dependence and inclinations on lesser things, and focusing on filling those voids with God. If we are fasting for our own, it’s pointless. However, if we are fasting in order to deepen our relationship with God, think of how He appreciates that.
How good is it to know that someone has sacrificed for us? Jesus gave everything for us on the cross. It would be so good to freely give ourselves back.
This mindset of fasting doesn’t have to just take place during this time of year. Let’s constantly be asking Him in prayer, “Jesus show me the things that are coming in between our relationship.” Let’s actively be seeking to settle those things, that He may increase and that we may decrease.
