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Mar 25, 2025 18:00pm

Fasting from Fasting

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As Easter approaches, many choose to participate in the long-recognized practice of Lent to prepare our hearts. Growing up as a Southern Baptist girl, this was not something I was very familiar with. As an adult, though, I have enjoyed adding the tradition to my walk with Christ.

Growing up in South Mississippi, only about an hour from the coast and from New Orleans, there was a large Catholic presence, which is probably the only reason I had exposure to Lent at all back then. I can remember hearing snippets about Lent when a friend might pass up a piece of chocolate or maybe politely pass on an offer of soda. I remember seeing several friends come to school with ash crosses on their foreheads. That was about the extent of my understanding then.

I had participated in fasts several times, but I had never learned how to embrace the Lenten season until a few years ago. I had to do non-spiritual fasts before getting bloodwork or surgery a few times, “starving myself for 12 hours or so.” (Read that with a little drama!) I had seen others go without food for a day as they prayed about things. One time, our pastor had asked the whole congregation to participate in a month-long fast while we prayed over some decisions the church needed to make, and I remember the relief I felt when he explained that it didn’t necessarily mean no food at all! He explained that we could fast however we felt God led us—by choosing to abstain from an activity, a food, or whatever we felt would give us a reminder to pray and focus on the decisions ahead of us. While serving on staff at a church, the leadership was encouraged to completely fast from food and spend that time prayerfully considering some heavy decisions we needed to make.

As an adult, a friend mentioned she was committing to giving up watching television for 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. She said she would spend that extra hour she would normally have given her brain a break before bed praying and reading her Bible instead. I think I replied something like, “I thought you were Baptist!” She laughed and assured me she was. She explained the significance of setting aside time to prepare her heart for Easter, so it wasn’t just “another Sunday” to her. I liked the sound of that.

Over the years since then, I have chosen to abstain from different things, in hopes of creating space to focus my heart on Jesus in moments when those things might have been drawing my attention, maybe highlighting things I occasionally turn to as a default to distract my mind and heart. My fasts have been from desserts, television, social media, games on my phone, soda, and even kettle corn once (I might have had a slight kettle corn obsession!).

A few years ago, I fasted from watching the news. We were fresh out of COVID, and I had become accustomed to getting a news fix every morning and every night. I found myself anxious and overwhelmed. Fasting from news and using that time to pray or read my Bible instead gave me so much peace. (I do think it is important to be aware of what is going on in our world. How else could we pray specifically and be involved in issues we become aware of that are of importance to the Kingdom of God?!) When the news around the world (or anything else) becomes something we feel a greater pull to than building our relationship with Jesus, though, it becomes an idol. Fasting from that through Lent might help you see your dependence on it more clearly.

This year, I was praying about how I should approach this Lenten season. I have been put on a very strict diet for health reasons, so abstaining from specific foods would not be a beneficial way to disrupt my normal schedule and help me guide my heart to Jesus. I am already limiting the amount of news I allow myself to watch because it increases stress—negatively impacting my health issues. I was already fasting from games on my phone and limiting social media, as my husband and I prayed through some decisions we were facing.

As I thought and prayed through what I have in my life that I could abstain from that would be impactful on my mind and heart enough to remind me to align my heart with God’s Word and prepare for Easter, I realized I didn’t really have anything that came to mind.

Then, my friend sent me a book that approached the idea of fasting differently. She sent me 40 Days of Decrease by Alicia Britt Chole in the mail. I started reading on Ash Wednesday, and I was blown away by this alternate approach to fasting.

Rather than urging the reader to pinpoint an area in his or her life that might be distracting from growing in our walk with Christ to fast from, she encourages the reader to consider adding things in every day during the Lenten season, in hopes of slowly deepening meditation on some of the less comfortable parts of Jesus’ journey to the cross, and (in turn) our own hearts—seeing the 40 days of focus as a deepening spiritual experience rather than a personal project.

(Some of the additions are collecting praise from the day and offering them up along with your own thanksgiving, allowing yourself to embrace “messy faith” and being transparent with God rather than pretending you don’t have questions, embracing sorrow, among many other additions.)

This is not to lessen the beauty of the traditional self-fasting call at all, as long as it is sacrificed with a heart that feels convicted to do it. This book helped me find a new way to prepare my heart to embrace Easter as less of a 40-day project and more of a challenge to journey with Jesus through His last days on earth. I pray you are able to prepare your heart and mind as we journey toward Easter as well, however God leads you.

“You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart
You, God, will not despise.”
Psalm 51:16-17