Monday Musings: Fasting

In  Malachi, God speaks through his prophet about the importance of tithes and offerings

From scriptures.lds.org

  8 ¶ ^aWill a man ^brob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In ^ctithes and offerings.

  9 Ye are ^acursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

  10 Bring ye all the ^atithes into the storehouse, that there may be ^bmeat in mine house, and ^cprove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not ^dopen you the ^ewindows of heaven, and pour you out a ^fblessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Even though it states tithes in verse 10 verse 8 refers also to offerings.  Last week I blogged about how I feel about tithing.  This week it is fast offerings.

A few years back, I heard an anecdotal story.  Sorry, I have no source on it, and whether it really happened or not isn't really relevant to the point I am going to make.  A gentleman from India was speaking to a leader of the LDS church and telling him how much he wished that people would go without food for just one day so they could empathize with the poor and hungry of his country.  The church leader then tells him, "Our members do this every month and then donate the money saved to help the poor and the hungry" The man from India then broke into tears to think someone would actually do this.

As I mentioned, I don't remember the details, but for me the message was what mattered.  I gain empathy through forgoing food for 24 hours, or two meals, and then donate the money saved to others.  The LDS Church encourages it's members to fast on the 1st Sunday of each month and the Sunday Meetings that day are an opportunity for members to share their experiences and beliefs.  The church accepts the donations and then redistributes them first to those with local needs and then further abroad as surpluses allow. The LDS church handles the details of it for me, but what a fantastic way for me to learn what others suffer.  The spiritual blessings of the empathy alone are important, but additionally, I find that when I fast sincerely and add to my fasting prayer, I am much more able to recognize God's will and influence in my life.  Like tithing, fasting becomes an outward manifestation of my devotion to God.