We need spiritual disciplines which will shape us so that we can live in love toward ourselves. Fasting is such a discipline because it detoxes our dependence upon food and other pleasures, enabling us to receive what is actually fulfilling and whole. Dan Kent helps us to understand the role of fasting as we seek to love ourselves as God would have us to do. 
According to the focus scripture, our love of self determines the way that we will love others, which means that how we express love outwardly will depend upon how we treat ourselves. Therefore, we need spiritual disciplines that will form us to love ourselves well. In this sermon, Dan explores how fasting is a key discipline that is needed for this self love.
At first, fasting and self love appear counter-intuitive. Dan addresses this by taking us back to the Israelite exodus from Egyptian slavery. After 400 years of living under oppression, God set them free, leading them to the promised land. The trip from Egypt to that land would normally take about two weeks. However, they did not enter the promised land for another 40 years. Why did it take so long? They were physically free, but they still had Egypt in their hearts. They had been shaped by a long heritage that kept them in bondage. They needed to be formed in order to live in faith.
We too need to be formed to live in the kind of faith where we can love ourselves well. We have been shaped by a kind of culture that has trained us to think and act in ways that are actually harmful. It’s like being a zoo animal where everything is provided but the environment is not natural to the way that the animals are designed. We have every convenience at our fingertips, but we were made for something more. We are shaped to depend upon these conveniences without realizing that they actually harm us.
One obvious example of this in our culture, is food. Food is designed to fill us while triggering dopamine. The sugars, fats and salts that stimulate dopamine result in a sense of pleasure, but they actually leave us wanting more. We want happiness, and the short-term effect of the sugar, salts and fats only provide pleasure. As are result, we are accidental hedonists. We are tricked into constantly looking for more and more pleasure because nothing is fulfilling.
Fasting is a way to recalibrate our pleasure sensitivity. It re-sensitizes our neurotransmitters so that we can actually experience true happiness. Fasting trains us to become aware of and satiated by the good things that God has for us. Therefore, fasting is not a discipline of “anti-pleasure” but of “pro-pleasure.” It empowers us to experience pleasure in a way that is fulfilling, instead of having to have the dopamine in order to survive.
Fasting is not limited to food. It also pertains to abstaining from other things that we can depend upon. These include social media, television or streaming services, hobbies or use of modern conveniences. The key is to pick something and set it aside for a time so that your brain can reset and focus on how God provides for our needs.
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