Of course, “disciplines of devotion” should never usually be quick. But these three new books are at least short, so Prayer by Courtney Rissig, Fasting by Cassie Achermann, and Sabbath Rest by Megan Hill will fit in the busy schedules that seem to dominate our worlds.
All three of these are useful (and again: short). But I think the one that stands out for contemporary American Evangelicals is Fasting. Not because it is better written than the others, and not because “fasting” is any more Biblical than “prayer” or “sabbath rest.” But because gluttonous, over-sexed Americans simply are not used to the concept. “I want this thing but will voluntarily step away from it for the purpose of holiness” is simply outside our culture’s comprehension. Of course we could relabel it “self-care” and everyone is back on board, but that’s not fasting. Neither is dieting or working through lunch or any of the other things that might occasionally restrict our intake of the pleasures we have surrounded ourselves with.
I don’t want to rehash the book here–I’ll just encourage you to pick it up (along with the other two!) and be convicted.
Overall these three books make a great addition to any church, pastoral, or believer’s library. They would be great to hand out to church members or just have a stack of for people to take in the entryway to the building.
Dr. Coyle Neal co-hosts the City of Man Podcast and is an Amazon Associate (which is linked in this blog). He teaches Political Science, Philosophy, and History in Southwest Missouri.
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