Our Appetites are leading us towards destruction.

For the past 18 months, I have been wrestling with the question of what it means to have a church where we are actually living our faith on a day to day basis. 

At the same time, I have been trying to name why Christianity seems to be losing ground and becoming less relevant. In Tassie, the number of people calling themselves Christian dropped by 10% in just six years… that’s an insane demographic shift.

While I have been wrestling with these two questions I have also been trying to make sense of what seems to be an overall decline in the health of Western society.  We are getting fatter, suffering more mental illness and losing trust in one another, government and the media.

I believe the church and society are declining for the same reason. We are run by our feelings and our appetites and we think its normal. In fact, we think its how things should be. 

Roy F. Baumeister diagnosed our problem succinctly when he wrote: “Self-regulation failure is the major social pathology of our time”

Self Regulation is the capacity to do things we don’t feel like doing.  Our society has actually gone in the other direction and that is our problem.

We believe that personal integrity calls for freedom and ongoing choice. we are suspicious of any moral code imposed on us from the outside that would limit our choices.

“Personal preference” is the new morality where the only real societal “sin” is intolerance of other people’s preferences.

It has been this prioritisation of our personal appetites and cravings that has resulted in increasing obesity and fragmentation of trust.  

It has also led to a brand of Christianity that is about fitting into our lives as they are and churches that produce people that are indistinguishable from their neighbours.

Gun and Roses had it right. Our Appetites are leading us towards destruction.

As I was reading the Bible this morning I was struck by a verse:

In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wilderness they put God to the test. So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease among them.

Psalm 106:14-15

If we want to be a church where we are really living faith we need to learn to choose against our appetites.

We need to learn to do things that we don’t want to do.

My sense is that an ancient practice of the church may  be a necessary part of the future.

Jesus indicated that, after his death and resurrection, his followers will be people who fast (Matthew 9:15).

The biblical practice of fasting is simply going without food. It is a choice against your appetites and craving. In our society it is a revolutionary act.

In a society based on appetites, fasting is a revolutionary act.  Two people I admire explain why fasting is so important:

More than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us. This is a wonderful benefit to the true disciple who longs to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. We cover up what is inside us with food and other good things, but in fasting these things surface. If pride controls us, it will be revealed almost immediately.

Richard Foster

Fasting is one of the more important ways of practising that self-denial required of everyone who would follow Christ (Matt. 16: 24). In fasting, we learn how to suffer happily as we feast on God. And it is a good lesson, because in our lives we will suffer, no matter what else happens to us. Thomas a Kempis remarks: “Whosoever knows best how to suffer will keep the greatest peace. That man is conqueror of himself, and lord of the world, the friend of Christ, and heir of Heaven.”

Dallas Willard

Fasting isn’t so much about belief, it is about behaviour. It is a choice against our appetites that prepares us to make other choices.

Fasting isn’t a very attractive idea, but perhaps it is a practice that might help us find our bearings in a new way.