Home » BLOG » There is a Time to Feast…and a Time to Fast

There is a Time to Feast…and a Time to Fast

  • Ecclesiastes 3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: …4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance…

From the Presbyterian Church in America’s (PCA) Book of Church Order:

62-1. The observance of days of fasting and of thanksgiving, as the
dispensations of Divine Providence may direct, is both scriptural and rational.
62-2. Fasting and thanksgiving may be observed by individual Christians;
by families; by particular congregations; by a number of congregations
contiguous to each other; by the congregations under the care of a
Presbytery; or by all the congregations of our Church.

There is a time to feast and a time to fast. Christians, it seems to me, are good at the former, lacking in the latter. Jesus, in his earthly ministry, expected that his future disciples would fast:

  • Matthew 6:16 ¶ “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
  • Matthew 9:15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Wisdom, I think, demands that we discern the times – when should we feast? When should we fast? Thanksgiving is a time of feasting, but let us remember there are also times for fasting.

John Calvin put it this way:

…The life of the godly ought to be tempered with frugality and sobriety that throughout its course a sort of perpetual fasting may appear (Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 3.3.17).

But, I would add, the life of the godly ought to exude such joy and love that throughout its course a sort of perpetual feasting may appear.

Show me someone who can both feast and fast and you show me someone who has found biblical wisdom and balance.

Leave a Reply