About fifty years ago one Lenten season when I was a child, I asked my father what he was giving up for Lent. What he told me has stuck with me all of these years. He said, “I’m not giving up anything for Lent. Instead, I am going to do something good.”

My father’s wisdom reflects God’s words to the people in Isaiah 58:1-14. In this passage, the people complain that God is not responding favorably to their fasting. Their expectation of reciprocity indicates the inner darkness of their hearts. Their outward actions are even worse, exploitation, quarreling, and strife all reveal the truth that their fasting is deceitful.

God calls the prophet Isaiah to declare their fasting for what it is, rebellion and sin. But even greater than that, God expressly tells them what acts of fasting are pleasing to Him so that they might change their ways, “to loosen the chains of injustice, and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke,” to feed the hungry, shelter the poor, clothe the naked, “and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood.”

You may ask how doing these acts of service is considered fasting. What am I giving up when I “have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren”? The answer is simple. You are giving up yourself. You are setting aside your needs, desires, and priorities to provide for the needs, desires, and priorities of others.

Personal sacrifice is at the heart of all fasting. You may choose to give up something that you would otherwise partake of yourself. Or you may choose to give up something of yourself so that others may partake. The choice for the remainder of this Lenten season is yours.