He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30

We entered into the season of Lent last Wednesday. Looking back, I’m surprised at how many years I spent as a Christian, never realizing the significance of what it truly means to practice lent. For those unfamiliar with it, Lent is the period from Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday, 40 days reminiscent of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan before beginning His public ministry. The practice of Lent generally involves Christians fasting from something for the 40 days. While it might be fasting from eating (generally not a full 40 days of not eating, but either fasting one day a week or perhaps fasting against something like chocolate, coffee, or whatever your “vice” might be throughout the entire period), it can also be fasting from behaviors such as shopping, watching TV, social media, etc. While many Christian churches and denominations observe Lent and encourage such fasting, others do not. While part of this is denominational, it can also be a decision of individual churches within a denomination. For example, I have been a member of two Baptist churches in my life; one had very little focus on Lent and the other a great focus on it. This is why I wasn’t as familiar with this in the early years of my faith. Perhaps that’s you, or perhaps you grew up in this tradition and are already very acquainted with it.

Regardless of whether Lent is actively encouraged and practiced in your church, we should all approach God with the question of what needs to be fasted in our lives. It really isn’t a question of “Is there anything I need to decrease or eliminate in my life?” because for all of us, there is something…usually multiple somethings, especially living in America with such abundance. So, when I first prayerfully considered what I should fast from this year, I was drawn to John 3:30: He must increase, but I must decrease. I have been praying for less of me and more of Him, so I am not surprised that this verse kept coming to mind. I know full well that everything changes when He increases in our lives, and I desperately want more of Him.

While I’m choosing to join our church in 24-hour fasts each Wednesday and also joining a friend in fasting from spending any money on myself this season, I sensed that there was more I needed to give up in my life. I’ve prayed over this while reading the book 40 Days of Decrease: A Different Kind of Hunger. A Different Kind of Fast for a second time, I’ve sensed four areas I am called to decrease in much greater measure. (Really, God? Not just one, but four?! Yikes!)

The first is to decrease or, rather, release control. For years, God has been teaching me this lesson, and I’ve come a long way, but I’m still not quite there. In this, I’ve learned the power of prayer and have experienced what happens when we are still, knowing and fully trusting that He is our sovereign God. But sometimes, I still try to control the outcomes of things I think need my influence, particularly those related to grown children. Releasing our children as adults can be especially difficult, but trying to steer them around difficulties does not allow them to grow in those areas. Even worse, it shows that we might not fully trust God with their lives if we feel we need to help Him do His job. Looking back on my own life, I know that seasons of trial have been my time of greatest growth and sanctification. Charles Spurgeon said it well in a quote I came across this morning in my daily reading: “We have never reaped such a harvest from any seed as from that which fell from our hands while tears were falling from our eyes.” So who am I to try to limit that growth for any of my children? Sure, I can give them advice when they seek it and guidance in life as an adult. But we were not designed to be in control of the details of their lives, no matter how painful it might be for us to watch them walk through whatever has gone through God’s hand for their lives. The same is true for me trying to control things in my own life that have gone through His hand. In these things, I’m called to submit, to carry my cross and follow Him. My control must decrease, so His can increase. So, in this, I will fast the desire to control whatever the circumstance is and instead feed my trust in the one who is in complete control.

The second area of decrease God identified for me is closely tied to the third. I must decrease my abundance, and with that should come the necessary starvation of my fleshly desires. One look at the stacks of boxes and bins in my garage reveals clear evidence of my tendency to accumulate without lessening. It seems so hard to discard 25-year-old kindergarten papers or the 15-year-old vase I might someday want to use again. (Anyone else or am I the only one?) But the reality I know deep down is that accumulation is not God-honoring unless it is storing up treasures in Heaven. I breathe in slowly to let this sink into my cognition the way it has already settled into my soul. My mind tells me I’ll regret giving this up…whatever the specific this is. But even the future regret that I might have over parting with something is fully wrapped up in as much flesh as the accumulation itself. Both have to be slain for my heart and mind to ever be in unison with my soul…for my soul already abides in His abundance, which is all I ever need. And so, I will fast my desire to keep a grasp on the temporal things of this earth because when we feed on what the world gives us, we always become spiritually malnourished. But when we exclusively feed our faith, the things of this world wither away. As they become less, He becomes more.

The last area I feel led to decrease is with my phone. One look in my settings and I get a snapshot of where my time has been wasted, time that I could have spent meditating on the things of God, or in HIs Word, or encouraging a friend, or worshiping Him, or doing what He has called me to do. But yet, somehow, this little device has instead become my “go-to” all too often. For comfort, for pleasure, for boredom. And with each second I am present on my phone, I am less present with God. When my time spent with it increase, my time with Him naturally decreases. But I know this is not an easy fast because phones are so innocent when they call us to check just one thing. And the enemy uses this innocence to entice us to mindlessly continue our clicks until time is stolen from us, never to be regained. And it’s a cycle that happens over and over again. I recently read the book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry and was encouraged to know I’m not the only one. Studies have show that the vast majority of American’s are subject to having our phones continually distract us unless we put some serious barriers in place. So, for this decrease, I’ve had to turn off the vast majority of my notifications and unsubscribe to most emails. But even that isn’t fully enough, so I’ve asked my husband to buy me a “Brick” for my birthday, which is a device that will block my phone from everything I don’t need to access during fasting hours while allowing what I do need, such as text messages and calls. I’m excited about this because I know in this area as in the others, I must decrease so He can increase. When my presence with my phone decreases, my presence with God will be in much greater fullness, which is by far better.

So, what is it in your life that could use some fasting? For some, it might not be the accumulation of stuff but the clutter in your mind that needs to decrease. For this, fast from a focus on circumstance and instead feast on the glory of God working all things for your good. Or perhaps you need to fast from human affirmation and instead eat richly from the Word that affirms who you are in Christ. Like many others, you possibly have a clear addiction that could greatly benefit from fasting, but maybe there is something deep down that isn’t so clear that God wants to draw you into a fast to draw you closer to Himself. Only He can give you the discernment on these things, so I encourage you to seek Him for the answer to anything you need to fast. Be encouraged that not only will He direct you on what needs this fasting in your life, He will, in exchange, fill you far greater than all you give up when you choose this decrease. The math will always remain the same and cannot change…HE > i.

Ardently His,

Leah

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