Fasting is publicly practiced in many Christian groups, but it seems to me by what the Lord Jesus says in Matthew 6:16-18 that it is meant to be something done privately [without a public display]. In Acts 13 there were several doing it together, but even there it did not seem to be the whole assembly that was involved—only individuals are mentioned.
Fasting means to deny yourself something that is not wrong in itself. The Lord Jesus said, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” It’s not necessarily only food that we deny ourselves; it may be many other things—a recreational activity, time spent in some sort of relaxation, or, perhaps, a shopping trip. None of those things are morally wrong in themselves. But when there is some particular need, we deny ourselves those things for the Lord’s sake. The whole Christian life is denying ourselves that Christ may be seen. See 1 Peter 2:11.
This is why fasting is almost always mentioned in conjunction with prayer or ministering to the Lord. Prayer is the major part of fasting—so important that eating [or anything else] becomes insignificant. If your brother or sister were sick to the point of death and someone offered you a big meal, would you feel like eating? There’s nothing wrong with eating; it’s just that there is something so much more important and you give yourself to that.
It is so easy to get under the power of things around. Food can be something that we enjoy so much that we get under the power of it. The same can happen easily with music, sports or other things. These things can become just as addicting as even strong drink or drugs. We have to learn to say no.
Paul said that he would not be brought under the power of any (1 Cor. 6:12). I think it might be good for us to test ourselves whether we can really do without what we think to be so important. I believe we might find that these things have much more power over us than we realize.
In Isaiah 58:3-12 we find that real fasting, which is pleasing to God, is to help those under heavy burdens, to share your bread with the hungry, or to cover those that don’t have covering. Instead of having a whole piece of bread, I share it with someone who is needy. I still eat, but only half a piece now. I am denying myself what I would normally eat. Seeing a person who has no clothes, I give him one of my shirts. Now, instead of two I have only one shirt, so that he can be covered.
Maybe instead of going to a ball game, I go to see some elderly shut-in who needs encouragement. I may think that going to a ball game isn’t wrong, but I go there to please myself. Going to visit that old sister or brother wasn’t what I would have chosen naturally. But I deny myself for the Lord’s sake.
In our affluent culture, denying ourselves does not seem necessary or feasible. We can find all sorts of excuses not to deny ourselves. We have to go against the current of this world’s philosophy, which is (specially in the Western world) self-pleasing. The characteristic of true Christianity is self-denial.
R. Thonney (adapted from the YP Forum)