Time really does seem to be going by a lot slower this month! Does anyone else feel that way or just me? It's nice in a way, since time usually seems to just race right by. I'm realizing though, really truly how much I LOVE food! It sounds crazy but it is sooo true! This experiment is really opening my eyes to how much our lives revolve around food. We get up in the morning, we eat. We go out on dates, we eat. We invite people over, we eat. It's lunch time, we eat. We go to the movies, we eat. We watch a movie at home, we eat. We get together after church, we eat. It's dinner time, we eat. We attend a meeting, we eat. We celebrate weddings, birthdays, retirements, graduations, holidays, we eat! We attend a funeral, we eat. We're bored, we eat. We're hungry, we eat. Ok the last one I listed really does make sense, and honestly so do the others, it's just what we do. Eating together is fun. Food is a necessity. Food is fun. It's our culture our way of life, and without it, time goes by slow. LOL!
I was reading Jen Hatmaker's book "7- An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess" again and something she said just left me in awe. (paraphrased) The early Christian church practiced self-denial constantly. "In the Shepard of Hermas, a well-respected Christian Literary work in the early 100's, believers were instructed to fast one day a week:" He said to eat nothing but bread and water on that day and the money you would have spent on your meals that day should be given to a widow, an orphan, or someone else in need. What a marvel concept I say! It seems completely feasible to feast all week long and fast only one day a week. So why aren't most Christians doing this today? I'm sure there are a few, but why not all of us? Why not me? I think the answer is the belief that we have freedom in Christ and people are so afraid of legalisms within the church. So we think anything that is not done out of our "own" convictions and feelings or "being led by the Spirit to do" or if we don't hear the clear audible voice of God telling us to do it, then we aren't going to do it. The Bible clearly tells us to though:
"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." James 1:27(ESV)
"But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." 1John 3:17&18
"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Luke 12:32-34
"Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." Matthew 25:34-40
I'm ready to start, who wants to join me? I'm going to follow in the footsteps of the early Christian church, by taking a baby step and fast and pray for those in need, one day every week, giving the money I would have normally spent on my meals to someone who needs it. It's what we have all been called to do as followers of Christ. Provide for those who can't provide for themselves, loving them not just with words but with action.
"Oh God, may we be focused on the least; a people balancing the fasting and the feast." -Robbie Seay Band (Kingdom and a King)
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