Discipleship and the Law of the Fast

By Elder Steven D. Shumway

Of the Seventy

1. Living the law of the fast prepares us to meet the Savior. As represented in the parable of the sheep and the goats, Christ will gather all nations, and then “he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left” (Matthew 25:33). Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explains that those on the Christ’s right hand become heirs to His kingdom, while those on His left receive no inheritance. The distinguishing characteristic is whether they served Christ by feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, providing shelter to strangers, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick or imprisoned.

3. The law of the fast strengthens us to overcome temptation. Isaiah teacher that living this law helps "loose the bands of wickedness" (Isaiah 58:6). Each time we fast, we gain more control over worldly appetites and passions and develop power to overcome temptation. Elder James E. Talmage (1862-1933) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles observed, "Have you some besetting weakness, some sinful indulgence that you have vainly tried to overcome?... Your sin may be of a kind that goeth out only through prayer and fasting."