On Tuesday morning I finished my first ever fast…

Now anyone who knows me will know that I love my food. And you’ll also know that I’m pretty skinny and so can legitimately (it seems) indulge my passion! So fasting was an interesting excercise.

While I was sitting there, feeling the rumblings of an empty stomach my mind started to drift to a roast dinner – a sumptuous feast of roast pork, with crisp roasted potatoes, that are soft in the middle, roasted parsnip, soft at one end and crisp at the other, honey roasted carrots, yorkshire puddings, stuffing, a rich gravy and of course… crackling!!!

And as I was thinking about this I realised that my desire for that feast, which will fill me for a few hours, is so much greater than my desire for the feast that waits for us in the new heaven on earth. Jesus said that his disciples would fast when he was gone. There’d be a longing for his return. So I prayed that I would have a greater longing, a greater hunger for his return than I do for my next meal. If only we had such a hunger! If it’s anything even close to my desire for food then it’s going to be life changing, life-directing.

So is it worth it? Oh yes – if it makes me love Jesus more, see my need for God to sustain me and long for the day when Jesus will return with a hunger that will only be satisfied on that day then it is definitely worth it. Roll on next time…