Isaiah 58:1-11 - Why bother Fasting, if you still hate your brother?

 Thus says the LORD: "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. 'Why have we fasted, and thou seest it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and thou takest no knowledge of it?' Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?

"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, "Here I am."

"If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your desire with good things, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

What? You're gonna fast and still not love your brother? Why bother?
photo by Mark Giles, used under the creative commons license
check out more photos at:http://www.flickr.com/photos/admitone/

O Lord, Help me not be like the people of Israel who fasted and yet lived in strife with their brothers.They engaged in religious activities and yet let the homeless remain without a bed and sent away the hungry with no bread.  They continued their duties, thinking they were pleasing You. How foolish to think God would be pleased by anything we do with a hypocritical heart. This day I pray, may my fasting not be in vain or my prayers not be with no effect. For if I would truly follow You then, when I fast and pray, I will also love my brother. Soften my heart, I pray. Amen.