If our Lord and Master fasted forty days (Matt. 4:2), is it not necessary for us to do the same if we follow in his steps (1 Peter 2:21)? The fact that Christ is our example does not mean that we should do just the very identical acts that he did. The suffering that 1 Peter 2:21 has special reference to is the buffetings, revilings, and torture which he bore from his enemies. He is our example in this, as he is in all moral acts and principles. 1 John 2:6. Jesus fasted that he might overcome the power of appetite in the flesh and overthrow the dominion of sin in the flesh. If such a fast as that were necessary for us, if we had to meet all the power of darkness single handed and alone, as did he, the forty days' fast might be necessary. But to fast forty days just to follow him would be works of supererogation not required by God. If we would partake of that fast, let us lay hold of Christ by faith. But is not fasting necessary?—Doubtless it is. Going without physical food for a while makes us weak, clears up the mind, makes us more sensible of our frailty, more susceptible to the impression of the truth of God, and helps us more fully to realize our dependence upon God. We should learn by such fasts that as our bodily powers become weak without sufficient food, so do our spiritual natures unless fed upon God's word. The professed Christian who would enjoin such a duty as a fast of forty days on each disciple of Christ, would do well to feed a multitude of five thousand or raise a dead man, and then be crucified and rise again. Christ is our example in submitting to God's will, in overcoming and walking above sin; and he is also the mighty helper in this work. Let faith lay hold of him, and his fast is ours.