Stability for the soul

Fasting is meant to give stability to the soul, not by means of mastery of the body, but by finding the Master.

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24

We cannot have two masters. Even if we think we serve the Lord, He is not Lord over us if any other thing has mastery over us. We cannot be a slave to God and riches both.

This does not mean we cannot possess riches, only that riches cannot possess us. What riches can provide us is not to be our focus.

"For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; or for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span? And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is cast into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith? Do not be anxious then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?' For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things." Matthew 6:25-32

We are not to be focused on the provision of these necessary things. These things can become master over us if given opportunity; these things have been master over us. We need to seek His kingdom, the place where He is Master over us.

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33

His kingdom will not be found in the externals of life; His kingdom is sown within us. The good seed is the seed of the kingdom. We have the kingdom of God growing within us; we must look within our heart to find it.

But another master stands in the way, not in dark robes of evil, but in the normal everyday concerns of life. The disciplines of abstinence are the mechanisms to deal with this master. Simply, one day at a time, we can deny obedience to what has mastered us. We do need food and drink and clothing, but perhaps not today. We have held on to these things, not considering them to be master, but we have been unwilling to let go. For a time, for a day, we can let go.

"Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

We simply deny obedience to the master who has stood in the way of the Lord. Without that master we can seek for His kingdom and His righteousness. The Lord can then add back that which we have let go of, but under His rule.

Why do we fast? It is simple: we wish to find the Master who has been taken away from us by another master. We have to choose: we cannot serve both.

"And Jesus said to them, 'The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.'" Matthew 9:15 (this is also in Mark 2:19-20 and Luke 5:34-35)

The Bridegroom has been taken away from us, not by death and ascension, but by our willingness to let food and drink and clothing rule us. We had no need to mourn when He ruled over us; but if we recognize that He really doesn't rule because another has taken His place, we will mourn. We will deny obedience to the one who has usurped His authority.

All of our fine words calling Jesus Lord mean nothing if anything else is master over us. We cannot serve two masters. If we hold on to one master, we will despise the other; not in our words but in our actions. Our soul will be the slave of another master. The bridegroom, full of joy and gladness, will have been taken away from us.

When we see that He is not at our table full of food, we will fast.

We need the Shepherd and Guardian of our soul; we need Him.