Abstinence II

Scriptures to Read

St. Matthew

6:16-189

Zechariah

7:4-7

Zachariah

8:18-19

Isaiah

58:3-7

St. Matthew

4:1-4

Acts

13:1-3

Nehemiah

1:3-11

I shared last week about abstaining from evil things. But there is a second side to this issue. Sometimes Christians are to deny themselves of good things. We call this fasting. Fasting was practiced by Hebrews for a long time. But it is also a practice that has come into the Christian Church.

Jesus said, "when you fast..." (See St. Matthew 6:16-18.) He here is telling His followers when they fast they should not portray themselves as enduring some great sufferi...