From our General Superintendent

Focus, Fasting and “Infobesity”

DAVID WELLS

GS CHECK-IN | A WORD FROM OUR GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT, DAVID WELLS

“Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it” (Luke 9:23-24).

Like never before, denying yourself is countercultural. The Christian understanding of self is that our full potential is realized as we focus our devotion on Jesus and live a life of worship and service rather than being absorbed by an agenda revolving around one’s self-actualization. This is not to live with self-hate nor to ignore self-care but to ensure one’s focus is to live life to the full, in the “Jesus way.”

Paul indicated that the almost paradoxical way we experience life to the full is by being prepared to let go of those things that keep us from knowing Christ in all dimensions possible:

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3: 7-14, emphasis added).

Certain disciplines especially help us zero in on our primary calling to know Him in every dimension. I have been reading my colleague Anne Yank’s manuscript, Fasting—Keys and Victories, in which she reminds us that the Scriptures consistently share stories of key leaders (Daniel, Nehemiah, Jesus and more) who deny themselves through fasting in order to focus on the “one thing.”

I link this ageless principle of simplifying our lives and diet to know Christ with the insights of another colleague, Andy Gabruch. In his materials on “Infobesity,” ¹ he points out that we must have the means to equip families, churches and ministries to connect with and mentor young women and men in a digitally saturated age. The overstimulated, “always on” lifestyle that many live, especially the young, creates anxious, comparison-heavy persons who restlessly pursue peace and self-fulfilment while adopting activities and lifestyles that lead in a diametrically opposite direction.

Ageless wisdom speaks to us: “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4, emphasis added). Radically adjusted lifestyles with simplified focuses and activities are desirable. They also serve as historical markers of spiritually centred lives that have a love for God and others at the core of who they are. Jesus was free to serve. The truths of Jesus’s life of simplicity and solitude that I addressed in the book, If Jesus, resonate in my heart and mind again:

When I block off time to focus on the specific purposes and people whom Jesus has called me to, I often experience the joy of being free to serve. Not always, of course, but it’s amazing how, during those seasons of simplicity, I am suddenly tuned in to the divine appointments in my day. There are conversations, opportunities for witness, prayer or generosity that I never would have seen had I not been zeroed in on the things that are important. What would a life of simplicity look like for you right now? Are you experiencing the joy of being free to serve our Lord and His kingdom?²

I would invite you to immediately apply these principles in a “one thing” manner. Exchange an activity for a time of prayerful worship and ponder what the Lord is calling you to prioritize in this season of life. Most importantly, know Christ in this sacred moment for, above all other pursuits, this is the “one thing.” And so, we pray together this prayer:

“Oh, I want to know You more
Deep within my soul I want to know You
Oh, I want to know You
And I would give my final breath
To know you in your death and resurrection
Oh, I want to know You more
Oh, I want to know You more.”³

Infobesity: How to Be Followers of Jesus in an Information Overload World is available online from Wipf and Stock Publishers and on Amazon. Online resources are available at https://andygabruch.com/ducoconversations/category/Infobesity.
David Wells, If Jesus … Revisiting a Life-Changing Question (The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, 2020), 72.
Steve Fry, “Oh I Want to Know You More,” track 5 on We Are Called, Sparrow Records, 1983, compact disc.