Hunger

It seems everyone I meet is hungry, in a spiritual sense, regardless of whether they are Christians or not. The Christians are hungry for more of God, for a real sense of His presence, for something beyond playing church on Sundays and trying to "be good" the rest of the week. And the non-believers are also hungry for God, they just don't know it; so they try to satisfy this craving with whatever the world has to offer. And the world has much to offer. Check out the TV Guide and you will find show after show with witches, mediums, spiritualists, demons, ghosts, and much much more. Some of these shows are out-right evil and perverse, but the majority appear wholesome, if I can use that word. The point is, they draw people in. The shows wouldn't exist if the desire for them didn't exist.

Let's talk about real food for a moment. A baby has an unbiased palate. Everyone knows you need to introduce vegetables before fruits or else the baby will not like the vegetables because they are not as sweet. In other words, if you give the baby sweet foods, he will crave sweet foods. This is true for all of us. We desire the foods we feed ourselves. If you say you don't like water, but you know it's good for you, so you decide to drink it anyway - you will eventually come to like water. The more you feed yourself junk food, the more you will crave it. But learning to like wholesome foods takes time.

Okay, back to the spiritual. Philippians 2:16 says we hold out the word of life. What is the word of life? Jesus - the Bread of Life. So, according to the Bible - we hold out Jesus to a crooked and depraved world, offering them Life. This is good food. This is the best food. Fragrant; irresistable! Imagine walking into a bakery. What's the first thing that you notice? The smell. If you're hungry, you might even start to drool. You can't wait to get in there and pick up a freshly baked bun or a still-warm loaf of bread, slather it with butter, and pop it into your mouth. Mmmm - heaven!

Yes! And "yes" again! That's the way it should be.

But sadly, that is not the way it is. So many unbelievers pass us by, and what do we hold out to them? The word of life, like the Bible says? No - we hold out nothing. We don't have any bread for ourselves, so we have nothing to offer them. Or maybe we hold out our church programs, our traditions, or our religious mumbo-jumbo. It's not the Bread of Life, but hey, it's still good food. Right? (Maybe, but maybe that's why so many walk away from churches and from Christians saying they "tried it" but "didn't like it" - weren't satisfied). Our programs are like brussel sprouts and spinach. They may be good for us, but they don't taste good until you develop a taste for them. But everyone like bread. So let's serve up Jesus.

But how can we do that if we don't have any Bread for ourselves? Maybe it's time to stop feeding ourselves spiritual junk food. Maybe it's time to develop a hunger for God alone. Such a hunger that only God His-very-own-Self will do. Nothing else will satisfy. Jesus promised that this hunger would be satisfied. Am I making myself clear here? Whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) Jesus is pure. Jesus is lovely. Jesus is admirable. Think on Him. Develop a hunger for Him. Then He will give you the Bread of Life to eat and you will have enough (and more than enough) to hold out for others.

Philippians 2:14-16 - Do everything without complaining

or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure,

children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved

generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe

as you hold out the word of life.