When You Fast: Keeping It Real in Your Faith

In a world filled with artificial smiles and superficial spirituality, Jesus calls us to something deeper. His words about fasting in Matthew 6:16-18 aren't just about going without food—they're about authentic faith versus religious performance.

What Does Jesus Say About Fasting?

Jesus doesn't condemn fasting. In fact, He assumes His followers will fast, saying "when you fast" rather than "if you fast." But He draws a sharp contrast between two approaches: the hypocrites who "disfigure their faces" to show everyone how spiritual they are, and those who fast genuinely before God alone.

The religious leaders of Jesus' day had turned fasting into a performance. They wanted everyone to see their long faces and know how devoted they were. Jesus says they "have received their reward"—the admiration of people—but nothing from God.

Why Do We Reject the Fake?

There's something in all of us that rejects the phony and artificial. We can spot fake spirituality from a mile away, and it repulses us. This isn't just a human quirk—we're made in God's image, and God Himself has an aversion to the artificial and fake.

Think about politicians who claim deep faith while supporting positions that directly contradict biblical values, or religious leaders who preach morality while living in secret sin. These examples of hypocrisy don't just offend us—they offend our holy God.

How Is Christianity Different From Other Religions?

Every major religion essentially says the same thing: do good things, avoid bad things, and hope God gives you a passing grade at the end of your life. Christianity turns this completely upside down.

The Gospel says you're lost and there's nothing you can do about it—but praise God, He has done it for you. Jesus lived the perfect life we couldn't live and died the death we deserved to die. We don't earn our way to God; God reaches down to lift us out of our pit.

What's the Purpose of Fasting Today?

Fasting serves several purposes beyond the spiritual benefits:

• Self-discipline: Learning to deny ourselves
• Freedom from habit: Realizing we don't have to eat at certain times
• Appreciation: Enhancing our gratitude for what we have
• Health benefits: There are documented physical benefits to periodic fasting
• Spiritual focus: Using hunger pangs as reminders to pray

When Jesus fasted for 40 days at the beginning of His ministry, He was saying to the Father, "I am very serious about this mission." Fasting is a way of telling God we're serious about whatever we're praying about.

Four Key Contrasts Jesus Makes

External Religiosity vs. Internal Authenticity
You can attend every service, memorize Scripture, and pray beautiful prayers while just going through the motions. God wants genuine heart transformation, not religious performance.

Outward Obedience vs. Inward Devotion

We can be fastidious about spiritual disciplines—Bible study, prayer, tithing—but do them out of obligation or guilt rather than love for God. The question is: what motivates us? Love and gratitude, or duty and expectation?

The Apparent vs. The Real

Like the Queen Mary's smokestacks that looked massive but crumbled when removed because they were only layers of paint over rust, we can build up layers of apparent spirituality while being hollow inside.

False Superiority vs. Genuine Humility

Spiritual pride is toxic to the soul. In God's eyes, the difference between the most spiritual and least spiritual person is minimal—we're all children, all amateurs in need of His grace.

How Should We Come to Jesus?

Jesus responds to people based on how they approach Him. When people came humbly and broken, asking "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" He was gentle and gracious. When religious leaders came full of themselves, trying to teach this "country bumpkin from Nazareth," He was confrontational, calling them vipers and hypocrites.

The way we come to Jesus matters. Are we coming in genuine humility, acknowledging our need, or are we coming with spiritual pride, thinking we have something to offer?

Life Application
This week, examine your spiritual motivations. Are you following Jesus out of love and gratitude for what He's done, or out of obligation and what others expect? Consider incorporating a brief fast—even skipping one meal—to focus more intensely on prayer about a specific situation in your life.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Am I more concerned with appearing spiritual to others or being authentic before God?
• What motivates my spiritual disciplines—love for God or religious duty?
• How do I approach Jesus—with humility or spiritual pride?
• Are there areas where I'm just going through the motions rather than engaging my heart?

Remember, God won't deal with the artificial and fake. He calls us to keep it real—to come to Him with genuine hearts, authentic faith, and humble spirits. Only then can He do the transformative work in our lives that only He can do.

Photo by Rachael Gorjestani on Unsplash