True Fasting Is Fasting from Sin
Of course, you have to be able to discern sin from mere weakness. Do you know how to discern if something is a sin?
There’s always a struggle inside us over what we know we should do and be, what we actually do, and how we are.
It’s called cognitive dissonance.
That’s when what we think and do is in such conflict that it creates discomfort. Yeah, I know that feeling all too well.
It’s the main reason we spend so much energy hiding from ourselves!
But, if it’s true that all humans experience this to one degree or another, then why are we so determined to pretend it isn’t real? If it’s such a common phenomenon, why so adamant about pretending it isn’t real?
Well, I guess it’s because it’s so different from how I WANT to see myself.
Look at our Lesson today in Isaiah 58:1-11:
Thus says the LORD: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and thou seest it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and thou takest no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?
“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, “Here I am.”
“If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your desire with good things, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
The last section says it all: Take away the yoke, pointing the finger, and speaking wickedness. Pour yourself out. Satisfy the desire of the afflicted!
That’s when you’ll finally be you and when your fasting will be more than just avoiding something!
That’s when you’ll actually fast from, and for yourself!
That’s when the other half of the wisdom of fasting will be realized, when you start doing something instead of just stopping doing something!
But how do I take that second step towards action, not just fasting from food?
It all begins by embracing the difference between what you know and what you do. If your fasting is just avoiding certain foods, you’re only halfway home!
The very purpose of the first part of fasting is to train you to get to the second half! If you learn how to discipline your physical desires, you will be free to use your life to serve others and not spend most of your time serving yourself!
When you realize that fasting from food is all about teaching your desires to be your servants rather than your masters, you are on your way to the authentic transformation of the discipline of fasting in the Orthodox Faith. Fasting destroys the power of forgetfulness that has us living lives on a destructive and selfish “automatic pilot.” This unthinking behavior feeds our small vision of what life is. It is at war with God’s purpose for your life.
But, when you fast from sin by learning how to tame your desires through what you feed your stomach, you strengthen your will to choose to feed your soul FIRST with the spiritual food that prepares you to live forever in communion with Christ! THAT’S why you are here!
Even though we shift the commemoration of Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene, from when they were martyred for Christ to Bright Tuesday, I have a special devotion to these heroes because our parish has them as our patrons. These precious friends were confronted with the ultimate test of settling for serving their desires, or preferring to pay the price to embrace an eternal reality. They chose Christ rather than the very natural desire to avoid suffering and death. These martyrs were given the choice in 1463 to either deny Christ and convert to Islam or die. They valued their Faith in Christ more than their comfort. St. Raphael was a priest, St. Nicholas was his deacon, and St. Irene was the 12-year-old daughter of the mayor of Mytilene. Their lifestyle of Orthodoxy prepared them to value their Faith over their comfort. That’s why we fast so that we can learn the same lesson!
Today, are you free from the struggle between what you know you should do and what you actually do? Yeah, me neither. So, our daily work is learning how to embrace a life of metania (repentance) by using our will to embrace the disciplines of the Faith to become WHO we really are instead of propping up the delusion of who we’re not! Living a Normal Orthodox Life makes me the real me!
P.S. Having contended on Lesvos for the sake of Christ God, you have sanctified the island since the discovery of your sacred relics, O blessed ones; wherefore we honor you, O God bearing Raphael, together with Nicholas and virgin Irene, as our divine protectors, and intercessors with the Lord.
Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouraged
