It is an Injustice
A Wasted Fast – Part 2
Scripture Reading: 1 John 3:7-10
Key Verse: Isaiah 58:3-4
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. 4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Continuing from yesterday’s devotional, let’s look at a secondary problem in the people of God in Isaiah’s day. The questions they asked in verse three reveal that they had accomplished the fine art of “compartmentalizing” their lives. In other words, they put their walk with God in one compartment and their secular life in another. They were able to sleep at night because they didn’t integrate those two compartments.
All of us have this tendency of compartmentalizing. It is easy to fall into this habit of doing one thing, such as prayer, Bible reading, fasting, or worship in church and then going about our day without any thought of those practices. We can easily feel that our “church life” doesn’t have much to do with our “daily life.” This is not a new problem with our generation. The Apostle James wrote in his day: “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men…out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be” (James 3:9-10).
Join me in the continual effort to integrate our lives so that our spiritual lives and our secular lives are one in the same. When we go to work we should be just as conscious of God’s presence as when we sit in church. Determine to allow God to be in all areas of your life!
Father, I give you permission to show me when I am compartmentalizing. I want to be an authentic Christ follower every moment of my life. In Jesus ‘name, amen.