I want to start this sermon off with a question. If I were to ask you to list your top 3 priorities in order of importance what would you say?
Thinking about our list of priorities, do we spend our life reflecting their importance? We can consider what we give the majority of our attention to. It will either confirm our view of our priorities or steal their place in our lives. So, looking at our lists, is God part of it? Why isn’t He number one, if He’s not? If our number one spot is family, didn’t God give them to us? Didn’t He allow us to be born to them? If we chose our career, didn’t the Lord provide pathways? Did He open doors for us? Did He give us the brain power to accomplish in the workforce?
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
-James 1:17
I ask you, if God provided a way for our values in the priorities that we give our attention, shouldn’t we show the same energy to our relationship to our savior? We should demonstrate the same energy. Let’s think on it, what ways in the Bible do they show the figures connecting to God?
- Prayer and calling on God’s name
- Worship
- Obedience and trust
- Reading, meditation, and hearing God’s voice
- Repentance and humility
- Fellowship and community worship
One way of connecting with God is mentioned over 70 times in the Bible. However, many Christians shy away from it. This practice:
- Expresses dependence on God
- A way of humbling oneself before God
- Sharpens spiritual focus
- Points to Christ
Can you guess what I am speaking of? If you guessed fasting then you are correct.
Fasting by definition is, “to abstain from food for a period of time.” However, fasting can be from anything of significance to you. For example, if social media takes away from your time with God, it can prevent you from reading the scriptures. It may also upset you at the content you are being fed. Then taking a break would be an honorable fast. The point is your intention, your heart, and what you do during said time away. Fasting cannot truly transform you separated from prayer. Prayer is the catalyst. Prayer sparks the connection to God, but YOU have to put in the work.
Throughout the Bible, fasting was either a response to or ignited a major transformation in their lives.
Fasting:
- Acknowledges God as sustainer
- Turns down noise to hear God
- Anticipates Christ’s Return
- Says, “I hunger for [insert] but I am starting for God.”
If you are wanting to be inspired. If you are wanting to be empowered to stay on mission. If you are ready to receive this NEW WINE that God is changing the atmosphere to prepare us for more at Christ’s Redemption Church. Then, I suggest we look at our priorities. I suggest we evaluate the habits and practices around our faith. I suggest we search out, we seek, and we chase down God in our lives.
Just because you don’t get goose bumps, or fall out, or whatever else doesn’t mean God isn’t working. Sometimes we must find God in the giving up of something, for something greater than our flesh. Sometimes God will show up in the quiet places. And sometimes God needs us to clear out space for Him. We have distracted ourselves so well that we have convinced ourselves we are just fine.
Fasting helps us to build spiritual discipline.
If every good and perfect gift truly comes from above, then it makes sense to give the Giver the first place in our lives. Not just in theory, but in practice, tangibly and deliberately.
That is where fasting comes in. Fasting is more than skipping a meal. It is a declaration: “God, You are more important to me than even the most basic needs of life. I hunger for You more than I hunger for bread.” It reorders our hearts, sharpens our focus, and reminds us where every good thing truly comes from.
So here is the real question as we close: what would change this week if you made God your first priority, not just with your words, but by setting aside time to fast and seek Him?
Would your cravings lose their control? Would your worries shrink in the light of His presence? Would your attention shift from what you need to Who provides?
Let us not just write a list of priorities. Let us live one. And let us begin by giving God not only the first place on paper, but the first place in our stomachs, our schedules, and our hearts.
Because when He has His rightful place, every other part of life finds its rightful order.
Amen?
Further Study
St. Basil the Great’s First Homily on Fasting
translated by Kent Burghuis
Pastor Alex