During Lent lots of people fast from sugar, coffee, or some such. There’s an intuitive sense that temporarily giving up something that we “must have” heightens our sensitivity to spiritual matters. Many fast with little more than that intuition, and likely benefit – at least in the realization that much of what we’ve declared a “must have” is actually just a “really want.”
Fasting can be of greater benefit when we’re more intentional. Think of fasting as temporarily setting aside some good gift of God that we yearn for so that yearning for that which matters most can find some space. God has wired us to yearn for himself. But if that most important yearning is never identified because we are so readily sated in all manner of lesser yearnings, then we’ve lost an essential part of what binds us to the One who loves us most. Thus fasting.
From what might you fast? Well, what (besides God) do you find yourself frequently yearning for? Is it sugar or coffee? There’s a possible fast. Increasingly for me it’s the internet, as indicated by an all too frequent compulsion to see what email has just come in, or what headline is on the news site, or who has posted the funniest picture. When that “must have” eagerness is not sated – when the internet is down – my agitation rises quickly. Logically I know I don’t have to have the internet. But viscerally? That’s what the agitation is about.
But how might one fast off the internet? It’s not just a relational network and entertainment. It’s a central tool for my work, one that leverages efforts to greater effect. And it’s hard simply to fast from one part of the internet – say, from all matters entertaining. On the internet work, relationships, and entertainment are all interwoven.
So how might an internet fast work? Richard Foster has a good idea. He suggests fasting from the internet one hour a day, one day a week, and one week a year. So I’m trying that this way – an hour a day (the first hour), a day a week (Sunday, at least after checking for messages that impact worship services!), and a week a year (family vacation week). We’ll see if I get the shakes!
And how about you? Is there a “must have” that needs to be set aside for a while? It’s funny how holding lightly can help us not to lose our grip – another of God’s gifts.
Blessings,
Keith
