The Stuff of God by Pastor Ed Young

 

That is not right.  When I fast, I end up wanting what God wants. And that is important.  See the contrast?  We want what we want.  I want what I want and you want what you want.  But God has different wants and desires for you and me.  God’s wants and desires for our lives are larger than life.

Jesus said (John 10:10), “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.”  God wants us to want what he wants, because when we want what he wants, we can live larger than life.  That is why we fast.

Jesus commands us to fast. It is not optional. He said, “Followers fast.”  He assumed that we would fast.

In Ecclesiastes 4:12, Solomon said, “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”  Last week I played the piano for you, a cord is made of three notes, right?  Jesus said three things in Matthew 6 that we are to do—pray, give, fast.

Followers fast.  Followers redirect their food source from the things of the earth, from material, to the stuff of God.  Fasting helps me and you to realize the depth and the breadth of the power of our appetites, because the stomach is the epicenter of our appetites.

Touch your stomach.  For some, it is big pat; for others, a small pat.  But the stomach is powerful.  The stomach represents our appetites.  It represents greed and lust.  It can represent anger and a lot of other things.

I remember this guy in psychology class in high school, Maslow.  Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?  What did he say? People thought it was revolutionary.  He said that man’s basics needs are food and water.  Wow!  Jesus said, several thousand years before Maslow was born, “I am the bread of life.  I am the living water.”

 

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