Fasting Focus :: Week Four of Lent :: Nailed

Food and Meals

Jesus is the ultimate example of what it looks like to abandon our will to the will of the Father. We have seen this in various degrees at each stop along the path of Christ’s journey. Abandonment always requires surrender. So, this week, as we reflect on what it was like for Christ to be nailed to the cross, we will physically be practicing abandonment and surrender by fasting food.

Pick either a type of food (like meat or carbs or even “solids”) and fast from them for the week. Or alternately, pick a meal (like breakfast or lunch) to skip on a daily basis. If you skip meals, spend that time you would have spent preparing and eating food in doing something like prayer, reading Scripture or serving others. Perhaps take these blocks of time and find a way to bless someone, even if it’s just time spent listening to them.

Keep journal entries of what it’s like to go hungry, even if it’s just for one meal. What has it been like to begin to assert some mastery over your body these past two weeks? How does your body/mind respond to that?

If you forgo a whole category of food, consider: 

 • What is it like to deny a craving? Is it easy or hard?
 • How does that craving grow the more you deny it?
 • Does it eventually become easier? Why?