Mission Devotional Day 8
The fast that I choose
Mission Devotional Day 8
READ: Isaiah 58
In this chapter, the prophet Isaiah speaks plainly about the disconnect between the religious actions of the people and their social responsibility. The people question why God has not paid attention to their fasting. Why has God not taken notice? Simply stated, God tells them that it is because they are not seeking him. They are seeking their own interest. As Jesus says of those who parade their piety before others, they have their reward.
The fast that God “chooses” is not an exercise in public piety. It is not a finely practiced self-humility. No! It is concrete action on behalf of the poor and the oppressed.
God says, “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?”
A few decades ago, in his widely read “Celebration of Discipline,” Richard Foster wrote that we do not fast or adopt other spiritual disciplines and practices in order to earn God’s love. Rather, the disciplines open our lives up to God so that he can do in us what we cannot do for ourselves.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
Have you ever found yourself wondering why God is seemingly not paying attention to you, despite your best efforts to show that you are serious about your faith?
Might it be that you have been focused on yourself rather than seeking to serve those suffering from injustice, the hungry and the naked?
PRAYER
Lord, help me to order my life in ways that reflect the heart that you have for the world. May I not focus on my spiritual position, except that I may be in a posture to serve. You have called me to glorify you through my service to others. Free me from a preoccupation with myself that causes me to overlook those whom you would have me serve. Amen.