ROOTED - Thursday, February 8, 2024

1 Corinthians 6:19

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

 

Reflection

Fasting Part 1. As we approach Lent, Ash Wednesday and Easter, it is appropriate to consider fasting as a vital spiritual discipline. I have encouraged LifeGroup leaders in the month of February to home in on this discipline. We could define spiritual discipline as: any spiritual activity (i.e. spiritual exercise) we engage in that trains our bodies to know that it is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and that our body doesn’t determine what we do. Our bodies are not in charge. We do not live our lives in order to please our bodies. A spiritual discipline, at a basic level, is a training of the body so that it knows its place and submits itself to God.

 

Paul recognizes that our body (he often calls it our “flesh”) is at war in us, fighting against what our spirit wants to do. It is a war. In Romans 7, Paul describes this war of the flesh and the spirit… the struggle between what I deeply want to do and what I actually do. EXAMPLE: I recognize completely that if I set my alarm for 4:00 a.m. in the morning to go to Myrtle Beach, my body is eager and excited to get out of bed. If I, however, set the same alarm to pray at 4:00 a.m. in the morning, I struggle to get out of bed (and may well fall back asleep). The body does not want to do spiritual things. It is at war! So, what is the value of fasting, in part? It is a discipline that goes directly where it hurts… the body. We do not like spiritual fasting. Our bodies hate it, badly. If you are saying, “I really don’t want to fast,” then it indicates that you definitely need to.

 

Prayer

Lord Jesus, help us to dedicate ourselves to the spiritual disciplines, and to fasting in particular. May we learn to teach our bodies that that our flesh is not God, but that you are.