Return on investment

The three disciplines of Matthew 6- alms, prayer, and fasting- are each contrasted with the practices of the role-players, and are each repaid by God.

The word rendered repay or reward is apodidomi, meaning to give back. God is giving back to us what we gave to Him.

He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord.
The Lord will repay him for his good deed. Proverbs 19:17

God pays His debts.

God gives back in return for prayer. It is the essential hope of prayer, that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

The third thing that Jesus said is repaid is fasting. The disciplines of abstinence, to use Dallas Willard's term, are repaid like the disciplines of giving to the poor and prayer. These three things are like a tripod. These three things give stability. Balancing a tripod on one leg or two legs is possible, but it is unstable. The slightest disturbance will cause it to fall.

We long for stability in life. We want to end the plate spinning, trying to keep a lot of unstable things going. We are tired of walking a tightrope, always a misstep from falling.

To repeat Dallas Willard's point: Jesus is not just a great teacher with high ethics. He is the smartest Man who ever lived. Listen to Him; He is really teaching a lot more than you think. Jesus just didn't mention alms, prayer, and fasting arbitrarily; these are essential. We will not be mislead by assuming that we can trust Jesus in what He teaches. This is what He commanded in the making of disciples: teach them to observe all that I commanded you. Jesus can teach us stability.

We have tried to create stability according to the paradigms that seem right to us. But even though prayer should make us stable, it doesn't seem to make us bulletproof. We look for the intimacy that will keep us close, yet we stray. Some, not many, have tried to create stability in the disciplines of involvement, to use Dallas Willard's term. But even as needful as these are, we do not find the stability in ourselves that we want. We have helped our brother, but we keep stumbling.

There is something in these three things, something deeper. There is a reason that these things together work.

There is a reason to fast: it fills a place that other things cannot.