A Time for Fasting

It is hard to drive across America without running into a McDonald's or other fast food chain. Actually, it is probably impossible. We are surrounded by food. We waste millions of pounds of food everyday. And yet, according to Prism Magazine, 210,000 children die from starvation every week. It is like having a Tsunami every week of every year.

We do need to give more.

But maybe that is not the only thing we must do. Maybe getting back to the spiritual discipline of fasting would invite us to consider more carefully the blessings God has given us. Maybe fasting is one way to resist the gluttony that has become an American epidemic. Maybe if more American Evangelicals were to fast, they would be more open to help the poor as God has called us to do.

We are great at ranting about pro-life and teaching creationism or even intelligent design in our schools, but Reformed Christians and, more broadly, Evangelicals are often silent about the poor people in their backyard, or their responsibility to them. Isaiah links fasting and justice in chapter 58. He does not desire our worship (something we seem to be very good at) unless we are a just people. Fasting for "religious" purposes turn God off unless we are fasting for the poor or for justice. When our worship and our justice line up to glorify Jesus Christ, it is then that we will start to alleviate the hunger of a starving world.

So next time you pass by McDonald's and your stomach growls, pull off to the side of the road and instead of eating, pray. And after praying find something you can do to call America to the road of shalom, that is justice with peace.