To Fast or Not to Fast?
How to Prepare for Easter
Hi Friends,
It’s the first of March, and here on the Gulf Coast, Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is being celebrated from Pensacola to Mobile (home of America’s first Mardi Gras) to New Orleans. What do lavish beads tossed from a float and little king babies hidden inside a cream cheese frosted pastry have to do with Easter, anyway? Here’s my little history lesson (as discovered from forty-five minutes of internet searching).
Mardi Gras originated in the early centuries AD, when pagan Romans celebrated a fertility god with debauchery and drunkenness. Early Christians decided to transform the raucous celebration and make it a day for feasting to mark the end of “ordinary time” after Christmas and the beginning of Lent, the season of fasting and repentance before the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. The French first coined the term “Mardi Gras” (Fat Tuesday) as they ate up all of the eggs and milk they would be fasting from during Lent.
Do you observe Lent or spend the time leading up to Easter doing anything special? Please share in the comments or by hitting reply.
What is Lent, and should we observe it?
Lent, short for Lenten, comes to us from the Old English word for “Spring”: lenten, which meant “lengthen.” As the daylight lengthens, life springs into view, buds blooming and bright stalks shoving their way through the earth.
Lent now refers to a season in the church calendar in which many Christians prepare for Easter by reflecting deeply on the love and sacrifice of Jesus our Savior. Some people choose to fast, giving up something they enjoy, or taking up a sacrificial act. Fasting is not believed to make people right with God; rather, it reminds us that we desperately need a righteous Savior and makes us grateful for God’s “plentiful redemption” (Psalm 130).
As Lent begins tomorrow, it’s a good time to consider the question: to fast or not to fast?
3 misguided reasons for fasting
When our children were elementary and junior high school age, they attended a school which encouraged giving up something for Lent. I insisted (to a fault, I confess), that they not fast for the wrong reasons:
Because “everyone” is doing it. Teenagers aren’t the only ones who do religious things because of peer pressure. If we choose to fast only because it’s the thing to do, we may be worshipping people rather than God.
To show off our spirituality. This reason is closely connected to the first. Jesus warned his followers against showy acts of fasting.
To test our willpower. While discipline for the purpose of glorifying God is good, we need to beware of fasting only to glorify our own strong willpower.
Jesus’ warning to his followers aptly sums up these three misguided reasons for fasting:
“When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don’t make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity, but it won’t make you a saint.” Matthew 6:16.
4 good reasons for fasting
There are clear biblical models for fasting, most notably, Christ’s practice while facing temptation in the wilderness. Consider these four ways God may work in us through this spiritual grace.
To identify our cravings. Fasting can reveal the food, drink, activities, etc. that we turn to for fulfillment of our longings and desires.
To practice waiting on the Lord. When we’re craving something we love, we can remember that it is good to wait on the Lord’s goodness: “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13). This verse leads to the next powerful reason for fasting:
To discover how plentiful redemption is. When we let go of things we depend on, we begin to see how paltry they are in contrast to the generosity of God’s love for us in Christ.
To highlight Christ’s righteousness. If we try a fast for forty days, we will likely fail with regularity. (Even if we never break our fasts, we might notice how irritable we become while keeping it.) We become even more grateful that our salvation is not based on our perfect keeping of any law but on Christ’s.
The problem with the food, drink and activities that we fill our lives with is that, like the well-water the Samaritan woman seeks, it will never satisfy. The fact is, unless we feed off Christ’s righteousness, we will starve. Though fasting has historically been way down on my list of spiritual practices, when I’ve tried it, God has filled me to overflowing with his grace.
Ways to observe Lent
Whether we choose to fast or not, we can all stand to grow in wonder at the beauty of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross which we celebrate at Easter. If you’d like to consider a few ways either to observe Lent or to emphasize the wonder of Easter, check out the following offerings, some free, some for purchase:
Free Resources
40-day Prayer Challenge: A short prayer emailed to you each day of Lent along with Scripture for reflection. Sign up or update your preferences here to get the prayer and printable Scripture cards that accompany the prayers. If you’re already a Living Story subscriber, you can just update your preferences by checking 40-Day Prayer Challenge.
Printable Reflection Journal: This reflection journal has ten story questions to help you meditate on Christ’s love and sacrifice and the wonder of resurrection and ten lined pages with verses to write your thoughts and prayers. Sign up or update your preferences here to get it.
Resources for Purchase
Uncovering the Love of Jesus: A Lent Devotional Hardcover by Asheritah Ciuciu (Author)
This wonderful and beautiful Lent devotional has 40 daily devotionals as well as family devotionals as well as suggested family friendly activities.
Quote:
“Too many of us feel like Easter kind of sneaks up on us, and we’re left spiritually and emotionally unprepared to celebrate this most glorious of all celebrations: Jesus’ death and resurrection as victorious King.
Is it possible, then, that we might reclaim this season of Lent to focus our hearts on Jesus in preparation for Easter Sunday? Can we leave behind the trappings of ritual that weigh down our souls and reimagine what Lent could look like for twenty-first-century Christians who sincerely love Jesus and want to seek Him with all their hearts?”
A Bible Study for Your Easter Journey by Suzanne D. Marshall
This Bible study helps you reawaken to the joy and wonder of Easter.
“Some of you may be squirming in your chair, worried that Lent and intentions sound like their use contradicts grace. During the study, you will learn that Lent is intended to highlight grace and not works. Like any Christian discipline, God can use Lent as a powerful tool if practiced biblically. We will look at scriptural examples of fasting and self-examination to assure and guide us in our journey toward Easter.”
Paul Tripp: Journey to the Cross: A Forty Day Lenten Devotional
This 40-day devotional with reflection questions and suggested Scripture guides us into the hope of the gospel and the love of Christ.
Quote:
“Mourning sin—past, present, and future—is the first step in seeking and celebrating the divine grace that is the hope of everyone whose heart has been made able to see by that very same grace.
So it is right and beneficial to take a season of the year to reevaluate, recalibrate, and have the values of our hearts clarified once again. Lent is such a season. As we approach Holy Week, where we remember the sacrifice, suffering, and resurrection of our Savior, it’s good to give ourselves to humble and thankful mourning. Lent is about remembering the suffering and sacrifice of the Savior. Lent is about confessing our ongoing battle with sin. Lent is about fasting, and not just from food; we willingly and joyfully let go of things in this world that have too much of a hold on us. And Lent is about giving ourselves in a more focused way to prayer, crying out for the help that we desperately need from the only one who is able to give it.”
I hope you enjoy some of these resources to rekindle your wonder as we move toward the great celebration of Christ’s resurrection. If you have other resources or traditions you enjoy, would you take a moment to share with us in the comments?