Fasting is hard. Like most people, I try to spend my days doing a host of different things. Working out and writing and networking all expend energy. And to do all I hope to do during the day without food is painful. This past season of Lent, I committed to fasting from food multiple days a week, but I did not do the best slowing down. In fact, most days I tried to do what I would normally do but without calories. Not smart. My mind spun and I became anxious. My focus was split between my tasks and the coming meal.

It is always bizarre to me how much of the day is connected with food. Meal to meal, snack to snack. Eating and drinking to feed the belly. And when we feed our belly, it provides a flood of feel-good neurochemicals to our brain, telling us to eat more.

Our day is ruled by our belly, the need to fill it, and our reward is feeling good.

When Paul tells the church in Philippi that “their god is their belly”, I think of my experience with fasting. That there is such a strong emotional impulse to snack. To receive a temporary reward for consuming what is not actually necessary for my survival. My belly has a tendency to desire to consume more than I need. It also craves food that is not actually good for me.

The same is true with life more broadly. We are consumed with thoughts and impulses for temporary pleasure, even if in the long run these desires are detrimental to my overall wellbeing.

Our culture is run on excessive pleasure-seeking found in the form of food, drink, sex, status, screens, money, relationships, and comfort. While those things can be good, they also can lead to our own failures if abused.

Our minds should be directed to things “above”, to the heavens. We do not belong to the impulsive pleasure feelings of the world. We are not living for the whims of today. For the citizen of heaven, there is nothing that the world has on offer that we would not gladly trade for the things that are above.

Do not allow your “belly” to rule your life. Meaning, do not let the continual chase of pleasure dictate your day. No, chase discipline and simplicity, deny yourself and pursue greater things.

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