D&C 59, 119, 120
Table Display: Little red wagon
filled with boxes of food, and an empty dinner place setting.
The Law of Tithing is pretty basic and easy to understand:
THE LAW OF TITHING
1-We’re supposed to pay tithing
2-Tithing is 10% of your increase
This is the minimum law, and hopefully, we are all moving beyond that
toward the Law of Consecration, wherein we
1-Pay our tithing
2-Use what we retain for the building up of the kingdom of God,
including, first of all, strengthening our marriages and raising our families
3-Give what is left over to bless those in need
This is where the Law of the Fast comes in.
THE LAW OF THE FAST
D&C 59:13-14. Fasting is a most
joyous opportunity! Do many of us manage to get to adulthood without realizing
this? I hope I’m not the only one. But I hope that you will leave this class
today with a new excitement about the opportunity to keep the Law of the Fast.
Why is a proper fast joyous? Well, there are two parts to the Law of
the Fast, and both contribute to the joy felt by the fasting saint.
Part One: Fasting and Prayer
Look at footnote a to verse
13 which tells us that we can make our physical fast symbolic of a spiritual
hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Now where have we heard this
phrase before, “hungering and thirsting after righteousness”? Of course, in the
Beatitudes! Let’s turn to the Nephite version in 3
Nephi 12:6:
And blessed are all they who do hunger and
thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.
We’ve discussed this several times before, so here’s a little pop-quiz:
When you are filled with the Holy Ghost, what emotions do you experience? Peace
and joy!
…I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which
shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy. (D&C 11:13)
And D&C 6:23 as well as many other scriptures tell us that the Spirit
brings peace.
So fasting in the correct manner, is going to result in peace and joy.
It will also give us many other fruits of the Spirit.
(Quotes from Elder Wirthlin come
from April 2001 General Conference)
Now, if we are fasting because we are hungering and thirsting after
righteousness, we will be praying as well. As Elder Wirthlin explains,
"…If
we want our fasting to be more than just going without eating, we must lift our
hearts, our minds, and our voices in communion with our Heavenly Father.
Fasting, coupled with mighty prayer, is powerful. It can fill our minds with
the revelations of the Spirit. It can strengthen us against times of
temptation.
"Fasting
and prayer can help develop within us courage and confidence. It can strengthen
our character and build self-restraint and discipline…Each time we fast, we
gain a little more control over our worldly appetites and passions."
Further, he says,
"I
don’t mean just missing one meal, then eating twice as much the next meal." (All right, confess: How many of us do that?)
Another thing Elder Wirthlin says is that “Often when we fast, our righteous
prayers and petitions have greater power.” Our spiritual hunger and
thirst is going to be filled to a greater level. Our requests for blessings of
other kinds will also have more power.
So what sorts of things might we pray for as we fast?
1-Personal righteousness (as Elder Wirthlin mentioned)
2-Special blessings to help with problems (surgery, job hunt, wayward
child...)
3-Increased abilities for our church callings (as the Sons of Mosiah
did, see Alma 17:2-3)
4-Gratitude (See Alma 45:1)
5-To align our will with God’s
Elder Wirthlin says that teaching our children to fast will give them
increased power to resist temptations along their life’s path.
I love the way one Primary President in our ward taught fasting to the
children. She told them that it was great to feel hunger pangs when you fast,
because whenever you feel them, you are reminded that you are fasting, and that
will remind you to say another little prayer in your heart.
Part Two: Fast Offerings
Sometimes we may feel that the Lord is not answering our prayers
despite our faith and request. One reason may be that our desire is not in
harmony with his plan. But there may be another reason as well. We may not be
keeping the second part of the Law of the Fast. To quote Brother Wirthlin
again:
"…Amulek
explained that often our prayers have no power because we have turned our backs
on the needy (Mosiah 4:26). (See also Isaiah 58:6-11.) If you feel that Heavenly
Father is not listening to your petitions, ask yourself if you are listening to
the cries of the poor, the sick, the hungry, and the afflicted all around you.
"Some
look at the overwhelming need in the world and think, What can I do that could
possibly make a difference?
"I
will tell you plainly one thing you can do. You can live the law of the fast
and contribute a generous fast offering."
Isaiah 58: 6 and 7
My nieces and nephews in Georgia had a youth dinner in their ward. When
they arrived at the chapel, they were each given a colored sticker, to divide
them randomly into groups. When time came to eat, the first group was seated at
tables set beautifully with china and silver and tablecloths, and they were
served a four-course dinner with sparkling cider and a luscious dessert. The
second group was served a little picnic on blankets with hot dogs and chips and
Kool-Aid and paper plates. The third group got to eat on the hard floor in the
corner. They were served refried beans and water.
Youth are always so concerned with fairness (and definitely with food),
and this activity was so unfair that it well illustrated the unfairness
existing among the peoples of the world.
Brother Wirthlin says,
"When
we fast, brethren and sisters, we feel hunger. And for a short time, we
literally put ourselves in the position of the hungry and the needy. As we do
so, we have greater understanding of the deprivations they might feel…
"As
an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I have traveled the world testifying of
Him. I come before you today to bear another witness--a witness to the suffering and need of millions
of our Heavenly Father’s children…At this very hour on this very day, some members
even in our Church are praying for the miracle that would allow them to
surmount the suffering that surrounds them. If, while we have the means to do
so, we do not have compassion for them and spring to their aid, we are in
danger of being among those the prophet Moroni spoke of when he said, “Behold,
ye do love money and your substance, and your fine apparel…more than ye love
the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted” (Mormon 8:37).
Brother Wirthlin told how his father, as the bishop, would send him
around to the needy families with his little red wagon filled with food and
clothing for them. He encouraged us to all fill up a little red wagon, so to
speak, and bless the lives of the less fortunate by paying generous fast
offerings. “How much should we pay?” he asked. Answering his own question, he
said,
"My
brothers and sisters, the measure of our offering to bless the poor is a
measure of our gratitude to our Heavenly Father…a measure of our willingness to
consecrate ourselves to relieve the suffering of others."
There is an easy formula for figuring out our own financial
stewardships here on this earth. We need to use our money to raise our
families, to educate ourselves, to prepare for the future, and to build up the
kingdom, but oftentimes, we give our kids (or ourselves) more material blessings
than what is necessary or even good. Whenever there is a choice to be made, we can
say to ourselves, “Is giving money to the poor more important than (fill in the blank)?” And
if the answer is yes, pull out that donation slip and stick the money in the
envelope.
As we do so, not only will the poor be blessed, but we will be blessed
as well. Elder Marion G. Romney said, “Don’t give just for the benefit of the poor, but
give for your own welfare. Give enough so that you can give yourself into the
kingdom of God through consecrating of your means and your time.”
We can be excited about Fast Sunday as one more easy way that the Lord
has provided for us to be able to use our power, our economic power, to do some
real hands-on good in the world. After meeting the minimum standard of paying
tithing, then we can meet the next standard of contributing the cost of two
meals as a fast offering, and then we can go beyond in our ability to bless and
help others—the sky is the limit. Unlike at the youth dinner in Georgia, no one
is preventing you from sharing your wonderful blessings with the “refried bean
groups,” so to speak, around the world.
Elder Wirthlin said,
"The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, restored to the earth in these
latter days, is centered on those commandments the Savior proclaimed as the greatest:
to love our Heavenly Father and to love our fellowmen" (Ensign, May 2011, pg. 73)"
He said that each time we live the Law of the Fast, we fulfill both of
those two great commandments. And, of course, we will come out ahead; the Lord
will never be in our debt, because he always blesses us for every commandment
that we keep. Here are some great blessings that Elder Wirthlin has itemized:
"Fasting
in the proper spirit and in the Lord’s way will energize us spiritually,
strength our self-discipline, fill our homes with peace, lighten our hearts
with joy, fortify us against temptation, prepare us for times of adversity, and
open the windows of heaven."
Any reason you wouldn’t that? Just because you’re hungry for another
meal or another trinket? When you really think about it, the answer is
definitely, no way!
HANDOUTS
You may want
to make cards to help your class members and their families remember and
internalize the great Law of the Fast.
We have one in our home that is very handy to place on the kitchen
counter Saturday evening so that the early risers on Sunday don’t forget to
fast. You can include scriptures from
the lesson, or the points made by Elder Wirthlin.
Postscript: Here is a cute handout that reader Kathleen Thompson from Washington e-mailed to me. Right-click on it, save it, print out copies. Thanks, Kathleen!
