Hungry?
October 26th, 2011*This post is a newsletter article I wrote for our church newsletter this month. I know I haven’t “blogged” in a while, for sure not much this year & for that I am truly sorry. I love writing, but when you are a full-time pastor, with pastoral duties to tend to, and on top of that you add studying for and preaching three messages a week, I find there is simply no extra time for writing, or anything else to say for that matter. I hope to be able to blog more in the future. The medium of writing is so powerful & provoking. So, we’ll see what comes about in the future.
Are you hungry? Just two days ago, when it was time to submit my newsletter article for this month, I read these verses during my daily Bible reading in Luke 6, Verses 21a & 25a, which say respectively, “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied…”, and then “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.” (Both quoted from the ESV translation.) The thought hit me, how truly hungry for God & the things of God in my life am I? One of the great truths we see taught throughout all of Scripture is the point Jesus is trying to make here; that we ought to be truly hungry for, that we would yearn for God and His truth!
I wonder, how hungry are you? When we are hungry physically, we pull up to the table and eat. Most of us would not think of going one day without eating at least one meal, most of us eat at least two or three. If you are like me, not only do you eat those meals, but you are thinking about others. I like to think down the road a bit to see what meals might be coming. This is what Jesus is talking about. Rather, Jesus speaks of a spiritual hunger for God, not physical hunger for food. The point He makes in these verses is that you & I as followers of God should long for more of God & nourishment from His Word.
How many times do you go through a whole day without a solid, sustaining meal from God’s Word? I’m talking about reading God’s Word, meditating on it for a solid amount of time, so as to bury it down in the deep recesses of your soul. It seems that I hear from people, mostly indirectly, that their souls seem far from God. Perhaps the reason you feel far from God is because you ARE malnourished spiritually. You can’t neglect God’s Word on a daily basis and come to worship services with your fellow brothers & sisters and expect to feel close to God. You wouldn’t dare try & live a week on one physical meal, but far too often many of us attempt & do this spiritually and we wonder why the service just didn’t seem to have any vigor or passion. It’s because you haven’t been passionate about God yourself. If you aren’t spending time with God, regularly, He will be a stranger to you. He won’t talk to you. In fact, He will feel far from you. As the old saying goes, “If you feel far from God, He hasn’t moved.”
What can you do about this? You can begin by pursuing God again. He is more than ready for you to come after Him. In fact, this article is His attempt to come after you, to alert you to this problem/sin in your life. In God we find fullness of joy & peace. We find the way of life & happiness. What steps can you take to get hungry again? When it comes to my physical hunger, all I have to do is start thinking about a good meal (In fact, I’m picturing a nice, juicy rib-eye steak). I think the same truth can apply spiritually. Do you spend time thinking about God on a daily, regular basis? Start there. Spend time reading short passages of Scripture as a daily discipline, then stop & think about what that passage teaches you about this great God we love & serve.
These things are just a start to getting back to hungering for God again. Jesus says, “Blessed are those who are hungry now.” There is still time to be satisfied, and that desire to be satisfied is a sure sign that God is still working on you! Hungry yet?



