Church-wide Fast Day 2 - Fasting is hard. Did I forget to mention that Sunday?

Fasting is hard. I think I may have forgotten to mention that Sunday. There is a natural battle within us that is waging. Your body craves things that you have pledged to give up for a time for the sake of focusing on the God who provides all things. 

I've read your Facebook and Twitter posts that tell your stories of the temptation that occurs around dinner time each night! We could pretend to be uber-spiritual during our fast and claim victory once and for all over the body's desire for food! Maybe you're so holy that God has removed the human urge to eat. Um... probably not. However, this week we get the unique opportunity to see a picture of how Christ sustains us, though things that are opposed to our relationship with him are still appealing to our flesh. 

 A long time ago, someone convinced the world at large that being in a relationship with God had something to do with keeping a list of man-made rules. These rules are useful to gain power over the masses. Judge others and claim perfection for yourself and you've got power over everyone less "holy" than you by way of guilt. Somewhere along the way, humanity realized that all these man-made rules were impossibly oppressive and even the religious bigots can't possibly be as holy as they claim. In the midst of that desperation, Christ enters the world to embrace humanity. Though caught red-handed, Christ loves me and you just as we are.


While humanity is constantly focused on how we can improve our "selves" God sent his Son so that you could be liberated from your "selves". He liberate us from trying to make our "selves" behave to embrace His life living through you- Life in the Spirit. This week forever after take your focus off your self and place your focus squarely on Jesus Christ- your life.


Take a few minutes throughout the rest of the day to pray and ask God to realign your focus on Him. Meditating on this passage from Romans should help:


Romans 8.6-7 The Message    
6 Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. 7 Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing.  

For more, read the entire chapter of Romans 8