Religious Fasting
Episode 107: Recently, I've been pondering the topic of religious fasting and other food-related rituals in the Christian faith. Though I don't include my spiritual beliefs in much of my work, I am a Christian and it has greatly contributed to my own healing process.The question I found myself wondering today is, how does one go about rituals that require them to stop eating food when an obsession with food is one of the biggest struggles in their life? Is religious fasting beneficial to everyone, no matter their personal struggles? Does God look at the action of fasting as much as he does the motivation for fasting?In this episode, I share a personal story about a time I was confronted with a choice that brought me face-to-face with a struggle that was controlling my life. I had spent so much time perfecting (and worshipping) my body instead of honoring God with it...and this single moment opened up my eyes to that.Comment below with your thoughts after you listen to the episode! I would love to hear them.Show notes:
Join the Body Image and Disordered Eating Recovery for Christians group HERE
Why I have recently been thinking about the topic of religious fasting
Is it honoring to God to fast if you come from a disordered eating background?
A HUGE moment in my life that made me realize I was idolizing my body, not God
Romans 8:6-8: "Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them- living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn't pleased at being ignored."
How communion helped me to let go of my dieting mentality
1 Samuel 16:7: “But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
Fasting is valuable to God because of what's going on in your heart. If your heart isn't in the right place, the beauty of fasting is gone
Why I think eating the food instead of avoiding it might be a better way to serve God and authentically rely on Him
A simple, humbling prayer I say often when I feel like a change needs to take place in my heart
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