Okay, let’s do some “why?” stuff:

One of my favorite books on fasting is Hunger for God by John Piper.  Not favorite as in, hey what a fun read.  Nuh uh.  Favorite as in oh my word this is convicting. 

I can’t find my copy, so I can’t check my memory on this quote.  But the story he told was about when he and his future wife were first dating, he was away from her one summer while working at a camp.  When he would get a letter from her, he would completely skip lunch to read the letter instead.  He didn’t think about it, it’s just that he wanted to feel close to her more than he wanted food.

Fasting is like that.  In Matthew 9:14-15, Jesus is asked about why his disciples don’t fast.  He answers:

“How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them?  The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”

Our Bridegroom is gone for now, but He’s coming back.  Until then, as we long to be with Him and feel close to Him, we give up some of the world’s pleasures.

But, as Piper points out, that’s not the whole story.  Usually, instead of longing for His return and completely wanting to give up any earthly pleasure to feel close to Him, we instead find other little pleasures with which to fill our souls.

And when that’s the case, fasting becomes a useful tool to reawaken our heart for Him. 

So that’s where we are.  Usually, the things we fast from (media, excessive time with people, food) are perfectly wonderful things.  We just need to concentrate, so we give them up for a time.
 

That’s how I’m looking at this spending fast.  Nothing wrong with eating out.  Not a problem to have treats.  Just going to set them aside – again – and re-read what I learned around this time last year from The 7 Experiment.  I remember being challenged in the purpose of our finances and perspective on how we should live.

I want to revisit that.  Join me?