What if fasting isn't about what you give up, but about who you lift up?

Hi, I'm Brad Coleman, the Campus Pastor at Christ Church Highland Park. Welcome back to our "Holy Habits" devotional series on fasting. Yesterday, we laid the biblical foundation for this ancient practice. Today, we're exploring fasting as an act of worship—and it might change how you think about it entirely.

In this devotion, we discover:

We are designed to worship. The first act of human rebellion was an attempt to place ourselves at the center of the universe—and it never works.
Idols aren't just statues. An idol is anything that takes the place designed for God alone—anything that draws our focus away from Him.
Worship involves surrender. Romans 12:1 calls us to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice—our "spiritual service of worship."
When we fast, food becomes a stand-in for any human appetite. Laying it aside for a time is a way to posture our hearts in submission before God.
The built-in reminder: hunger. Every pang becomes an invitation to say, "Lord, I worship You. I surrender all to You. I need You above all else."
The ultimate goal: to become the kind of person who naturally and joyfully places God in His rightful place—so our hearts align with His heart, our values shaped by His kingdom.

Fasting is not ultimately about what we gain from it. It's about what we lay down—and who we lift up.

Tomorrow, we'll talk about fasting as training in righteousness. Don't forget to like and subscribe so you don't miss it!

Fasting as Worship: Surrendering Our Appetites to God