I had a great Sunday morning with the Mountain Christian Church in Joppa, MD. They are doing a great series called "Retro" that looks at some of the ancient Christian practices and how they can impact us today. My assigned topic was "Fasting". It's not a topic that many get excited about. It pretty much goes against everything in our culture.
Most of us are surrounded by food and our only choice is what kind and how much of it do we eat. To be able to have food, but not eat it, doesn't make sense to some people. Our culture pretty much says that about everything. Go for it. Do what feels good. Get all you can....not just food, but every pleasure in life.
So maybe then, Christians do begin to understand this spiritual discipline of fasting. It trains us to say "no", even to things that we are allowed to have. Self-control begins to grow. Fasting really isn't about food at all. It's about training for righteousness.