Fasting

Matthew 6:16-18

After a longer section on prayer, Jesus return to his main point for this second part of his sermon: don't do your acts of righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. This time he takes up the discipline of fasting.
One of the key phrases is "When you fast". Again, Jesus assumes that his followers will be engaging these spiritual practices but he is reminding them that the spiritual practice itself is not the goal and receiving praise from others is also not the goal. The goal of the spiritual practice is to be rewarded by the Father.
I wonder if the reward is a closer relationship with the Father. There's nothing better that I could think of than that. I wonder if that's what Jesus is getting at here: if you do your spiritual acts to be seen by others, you will receive their praise but that is all. If you do your spiritual acts to draw near to God then he will reward you by drawing near to you. The text doesn't say that explicitly so I admit that I am reading into it a little bit. I'm just trying to figure out what the reward could be and since there is nothing I want more, at least when I really have my priorities straight, than to be close to God, I can't think of a better reward than that.
I wonder why fasting is such a forgotten discipline in the evangelical western world. I think it would be good for me to go without food on occasion to remind myself that God is my provider and that there are things that I need more than food. I think it would be good for me to choose a day a month to fast - not for the religious experience but for my spiritual health. At first it will probably be more of a discipline than a joy but, over time, I hope it would become one way that I can grow closer to Christ.