Fasting?!

John Piper is one of my favorite authors and I just started reading his book, "A Hunger for God." Fasting is counter-culture, neglected, and looked down upon and I am talking about in the Christian community. I would definitely recommend anything by Piper and I recommened this book even though I have only read the introduction.

Here are some quotes from the introduction to make you think and pique your interest:

"Christian fasting, at its root, is the hunger of a homesickness for God. "

"The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when we replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable."

"The issue (fasting) is not food per se. The issue is anything and everything that is, or can be, a substitute for God."

"Fasting is not the forfeit of evil but of good."

"...we easily deceive ourselves that we love God unless our love is frequently put to the test, and we must show our preferences not merely with words but with sacrifice."

"It's (the book) about the inward war with our own appetites that compete with hunger for God."

"My aim and prayer in writing this book is that it might awaken a hunger for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples."

"If you don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great."

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