Friday 3 March – Day of Prayer for Victims of Abuse

Isaiah 58:1-9; Psalm 51; Matthew 9:14-15

Fasting and self-denial

God does not need our fasting or our acts of self-denial, nor does God take pleasure in our discomfort or pain. But we need them, not in themselves, but for what they should produce in us: less self-centredness, more other-centredness and God-centeredness. It is in the fruits of our fasting and self-denial that God takes pleasure. They are a means to an end, not an end in themselves.