Wednesday, January 14, 2009

question for the council

I have been pondering for a couple days now about fasting. What I have been pondering is...when fasting is done with the mentality of 'if i do this for God, God will do this for me' isn't that....wrong? but isn't that why the majority of Christians do it? any thoughts?
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3 comments:

Unknown said...

I think a proper theology of fasting is well over due.

In speaking with an incredibly old monk several years ago he almost teared up at the benefits of abstaining so to focus on the Lord.

Yes i think that the commonly held belief has either asceticism at its root or the thought that the Lord actually NEEDS this broken vessel of a fallen man to do anything.

He chooses to use the broken.

Piper wrote a great book a few years ago called "When i don't desire God"

in it he refers to the practice as a weapon in the arsenal for the fight for Joy in the lord. "Fasting proves the presence, and fans the flame, of that hunger It is an intensifier of spiritual desire. It is a faithful enemy of fatal bondage to innocent things. It is the physical exclamation point at the end of the sentence : "This much, O God, I long for you and for the manifestation of your glory in the world!..I invite you to turn off the dulling effects of food and teh dangers of idolatry, and to say with some simple fast; "This much O God I want you." ~ John Piper

Contrast it with : I want you to do __________ oh great gene in the sky.


I'm interested do you men fast?? if so how and why? I confess it is a practice i have fallen out of this past year.

January 15, 2009 at 5:11 PM
Ricardo said...

Piper nailed it I think. A weapon, an exclamation point, physical hunger paralleling but highlighting spiritual hunger for the Presence.
I regret to say that I fast when I finally see distance between myself and Christ and remember the efficacy of this weapon...that is to say rarely but always with intense benefit.

January 15, 2009 at 10:26 PM
boydmonster said...

Yeah, Piper's good on fasting. He preached a good series on it some time back that's worth listening to. One of the chief points I've gleaned from Piper is that when we remove the comfort of food from our lives, it shows what other idols we turn to for solace instead of the Lord. I usually fast on Mondays until either breakfast or lunch. Which is to say, I don't fast much. I've been trying to start the practice of fasting on mondays. Most of the time I either forget and eat breakfast, or someone invites me out to lunch and I say 'screw it'. I should fast more as I think that it's one of the God/Scripture sanctioned means for sanctification (which I would number at scripture reading, prayer (public and private), and fasting). Would it be cool to do a council of men fast? just a thought.

January 20, 2009 at 3:13 PM

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