simple but not easy

I was reading Ecclesiastes 12 this morning and was compelled to focus in a bit on verses 13 & 14. The Contemporary English Version words those verses this way:
"Everything you were taught can be put into a few words: Respect and obey God! This is what life is all about. God will judge everything we do, even what is done in secret, whether good or bad."
Fear God and keep his commandments. It's pretty simple but it's not easy! Easy for me is fearing man - I can become consumed with far too much concern about impressing people or worrying about what others think of me. The quest... turning that same focus to pleasing God and God alone.
The notes in my Bible for this passage used the phrase "Worship and obedience will eventually lead to the light of God's hope." Worship and obey - fear God and keep his commandments. Simple but not easy!
The other portion of my Bible reading plan had me in 1 Peter where Isaiah 40:8 is quoted:
"The grass withers and flowers fall but the word of our God stands forever."
The opinions and approval of others will wither and fall; God's Word, his love for me, his faithfulness in my life - STANDS FOREVER!

"this much, o God, I want you".

I just started reading John Piper's book "A Hunger for God". It's a book about fasting - but it's also a book about so much more than what I typically think of when I think about fasting. The author speaks to our indulgences in multiple areas of life - food, money, television, internet surfing, create your own category! Piper has such a way with cutting right to the heart of what God hopes for in us and what we often do instead.
Growing up in the church - I've sadly come to view fasting as a ritual that hopefully produces some kind of result - depending on what motivated the fast. Piper lays it out as a life style of CHOOSING GOD OVER HIS GIFTS!
Here's a quote from the introduction that piqued my interest enough to read to the end of the book:
"God wills to know the actual, lived-out reality of our preference for him over all things. And he wills that we has the testimony of our own authenticity through acts of actual preference of God over his gifts."

It's not about giving up meals for a day. It's about PREFERRING GOD over any thing that could possibly give us pleasure in this life!

As he so often does - he orchestrated my Bible reading so that the plan I follow had me in Ecclesiastes chapter 5 the same day I started reading this book. Verse 10 says, "Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless."

I'm so grateful that he chooses to pour blessings of GOOD THINGS into our lives but I never want to PREFER those good things over him. Fasting will reveal in a moment what things have a grip on my heart - I want Jesus to be revealed when my heart is tested. I hesitate to dive into fasting for fear of what else might be revealed but I feel compelled to do it - with his help!