When I think about the religious practices of other belief systems and what has now become the typical church’s 21-day fast to begin the year, I can’t help but to consider God’s words from Isaiah 58. Here, we see an interesting observation in which God breaks down the Israelites’ fasting, what they want from Him, and what He really thinks of it.

Looking at this “religious” people from a distance, one might feel inspired with the lengths they had gone to show how devoted and how delighted they were in God. They pulled out all the stops to demonstrate those around them that they were walking passionately before God. Only, God seemed to have missed everything!

When these fasts take place, I often hear how people take on these challenges to sacrifice their gods…I meant their delicacies (select foods, TV, games, etc.) for a couple weeks, and they expect God to move on their behalf in some supernatural way. But, as I’ve often witnessed, the contemporary religious  have made the same mistakes as the Israelites of Isaiah 58.

We can’t simply make these moments about us, momentarily separate from the very things we can’t wait to return to and expect God to be thrilled that we “put up a fight!” God takes no delight in our disingenuous piety toward Him, and we should never expect anything less. On the other hand, God is looking to move on the behalf of those who will honor and seek Him in truth. In my next address, we’ll see what type of fasting gets His attention, and we need to ask ourselves an important question before we nonchalantly practice these fasts: Am I doing this for Him or for His

Pastor Jeff