In our conversations with the leaders we coach and train, it seems there is a growing number of Christians and churches who observe at least part of the liturgical calendar. And Lent is usually the first place they start.
Lent is a season of 40 days of repentance and preparation for the joys of Easter. Lent starts on Ash Wednesday (February 22 this year), and lasts until Easter Sunday (April 9 this year).
One of the traditional practices of Lent is fasting. We are told in Matthew 4:1-11 that Jesus spent forty days fasting in the wilderness and afterwards “he was starving.”
Many of us have fasted before – perhaps in advance of some surgical medical procedure, perhaps the religious tradition we grew up in practiced a Lenten fast (no meat on Fridays, e.g.), or maybe you’ve practiced intermittent fasting for weight loss or some other reason.
Fasting can be a powerful practice for a Christian, but it’s also significantly misunderstood and culturally challenging, so it tends to be either badly practiced, or not practiced at all.
Lent would be a great time to experiment with fasting, but it’s important to understand what you’re getting yourself into! So we’ve written up a few pointers on how to fast for Lent (or any other time).
What fasting is and isn’t
Christian fasting isn’t the same thing as dieting, or going on a hunger strike, or punishing our bodies, or fasting for a medical procedure.
Christian fasting is not:
- A way to suffer for God
- A spiritual practice that demonstrates how pious or devout you are
- Righteousness (i.e. it doesn’t equal holiness or sanctification)
- A way of trying really hard spiritually that God will respond to
- The same thing as repenting of sin (we don’t “fast” from sin, we confess it, receive forgiveness, and turn from it)
- An addiction treatment program (if you feel powerless to break a dependence, reach out for help!)
Instead, Christian fasting is intentionally withholding something we’d normally partake in (normally food) for the purpose of creating space in our lives to feast on the presence of Jesus “directly.”
So, Christian fasting is:
- Wisdom – it’s love and knowledge meeting together in a practice that avails us to God’s resources to meet our needs.
- Training – it’s the indirect effort that gives us access to something we can’t try or make happen on our own.
- Surrender – it’s voluntarily “making ourselves weak” so that we can know and receive the strength and power of God (2 Cor 12:9-10).
Simply put: fasting is a way to place ourselves in the way of grace by withdrawing our reliance on earthly things so that we can feast on God’s presence and power.
Possible ways to fast during Lent
If you’ve never practiced fasting before, an easy way into the practice is to engage in a partial fast. A partial fast can involve food and drink, or certain habits. Here are some possibilities for a partial fast:
- Fasting from foods associated with “feasting”: chocolate, desserts, coffee/caffeine, alcohol, etc.
- Fasting from media or entertainment: cell phone, TV, streaming video, radio, music, email, computers, video games, etc.
- Fasting from habits and comforts: shopping, looking in the mirror, makeup, elevators, parking in a spot close to the store, finding the shortest checkout line, reading online, following sports, etc.
Here are some questions to help you discern a partial fast that will be challenging enough to be fruitful (from Aaron Damiani’s book The Good Of Giving Up: Discovering the Freedom of Lent):
- What cravings have a hold on me?
- What would be truly liberating to leave behind?
- Short of an addiction, have I become dependent on a particular food, drink, substance, or activity?
- What would be truly challenging for me to give up during Lent?
- What is Jesus asking of me?
As you pray through these questions, try picking one food or drink and one media, comfort, or habit to give up, and then share this with a loved one as a way to embrace accountability.
One more thing about partial fasting during Lent: Sundays don’t count! Sundays are “feast days,” which means you don’t practice your fast on Sundays. (The entire season of Lent is actually 46 days long: 40 days of fasting and 6 Sundays of feasting!) Practicing a feast day helps make our Lenten fasts sustainable.
Also, think about a whole fast!
In addition to a partial fast, you may also consider embracing a whole fast. A whole fast is not abstaining from food for all of Lent, but rather the practice of skipping entire meals (and snacks) for a specific amount of time. During a whole fast, you can continue to drink water or some other non-substantial liquid, like chicken broth.
(We don’t recommend fruit juices when you’re on a whole fast, as their sugar content is typically very high!)
It should be pointed out that a whole fast isn’t for everyone. Small children, the elderly, pregnant or nursing mothers, and those with relevant health issues should not attempt a whole fast. If you’re concerned about fasting, talk with a medical professional about it before trying it.
But if you decide to try a whole fast during Lent, consider starting with a 24-hour fast once a week. Traditional days for Christians to fast are Wednesdays (to commemorate Jesus’ betrayal) and Fridays (to commemorate Jesus’ crucifixion). Here’s how to do it:
- Have a light dinner the night before, and don’t eat anything more before bed.
- Then skip breakfast and lunch the next day, breaking your fast at dinnertime that evening.
Other traditional days to practice a whole fast are Ash Wednesday, and some people will fast all the way from Maundy Thursday to Holy Saturday, breaking their 3-day fast on Easter morning.
Experimenting in grace
However you decide to fast during Lent, approach it as an experiment in grace. The point is to create space in our souls to feast on the presence of Jesus in our midst. So celebrate the gospel as you fast, and look for God’s grace to meet you.
Finally, here are a few more resources for those who want to learn more on how to fast:
- A podcast episode from last year on why and how to fast for Lent.
- For more on fasting, check out Scot McKnight’s book Fasting.
- For more about Lent, check out Aaron Damiani’s book The Good of Giving Up: Discovering the Freedom of Lent.
- For a good introduction to Lent, check out Lent: The Journey from Ash Wednesday through Holy Week, by Greg Goebel and Joshua Steele.
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As usual, clear, helpful and un-preachy. Thanks Ben.
Great post, very informative! Thanks!
Very practical and I especially appreciated the section outlining what fasting isn’t and is. Thank you friend, keep up the good work.
This was absolutely lovely. Full of knowledge and love and exactly what I was looking for. Thank you.
Thank you. I understand better now. This is something’s I really want to do.
Thanks for the insight and clarity.
Thank you so much for sharing this piece of valuable information. It has honestly helped me understand and I feel ready to start my journey this lent 2021. God bless you!
This is a very concise explanation of the how and why. I have always heard about this within the Catholic Religion. I appreciate how you have allowed us to get better acquainted with this practice and how we can use this to get closer to our Lord.
Thanks, Ben!
Thank you, I am ready to connect with the Holly spirit and make time with God, this might help me to slow down and smell the roses
This is a great post! I’d like to add another “whole fasting” idea that is rooted in traditional practices, though a bit less strenuous. This involves having only one full meal every weekday during Lent, ideally in the evening. A small breakfast (like a protein bar) could be added, and again in the afternoon as needed to do one’s job – but when done day in and day out (except feast days), the effect is to make one continually reminded of one’s weakness and reliance on God!
This excellent article will help us realize what the best thing to do this Lenten season is. Thanks for posting this!