Contact: Jesse Medina, .W Publishing, 719-362-5234, jmedina@dotheword.org
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., March 8, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- March 9th marks the beginning of the Lenten season leading up to Easter. Lent has become increasingly popular among younger Evangelicals with the season being marked by fasting from various types of food and activities. Pastor and author Eric Foley believes, however, that observing Lent should propel Christians to do more than just abstain. "Isaiah 58 is clear: fasting and abstinence for its own sake is not commitment to God. It's rebellion against Him."
Undertaken as spiritual preparation for the celebration of Easter, Lent is typically marked by 40 days of fasting, not including Sundays. During this time, Christians choose a particular food or activity to abstain from. While meat has often been a target, things such as alcohol, candy, soda, and even social media are becoming increasingly popular to fast from, making Lent as much about health as spirituality.
"If we're participating in Lent either to humble ourselves or to get healthy, that's beneficial but hardly Lenten," says Foley. "God intends for fasting and abstinence to be a means by which we can love and provide for our neighbors in need. The point of our going without is so that they may go with."
Foley's newest work, The Whole Life Offering: Christianity as Philanthropy, lays out a discipleship model based around John Wesley's Works of Mercy and Works of Piety. By combining spiritual disciplines like self-denial with acts of love towards neighbors like sharing one's bread he contends that Christians can grow to full maturity in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
He continues, "Jesus didn't deny himself for His own sake. He denied himself for the sake of the world. For us. Our self-denial should take the same form as His: going without so that others might come to know God's love. If we're going to fast from a particular food or activity, it's so that we might give that food or activity to someone else."
The Whole Life Offering is set to be released in April 2011 and will be available for purchase as a paperback through Amazon. Review copies are available upon request. Pastor Foley is available for interviews; please contact .W Publishing at 719-362-5234 for more information.
