If you were sitting in our kitchen while the lamb roast was preparing in the slow cooker you would no doubt start to get hungry. The longer you sat and the longer you waited, the hungrier you’d get.
Being that hungry is how Jesus wants us to be for His presence and His love in our life. Not just a little bit peckish, take it or leave it type hunger, but famished. “A nothing else will satisfy. I need to spend time with him, I need to know him, and experience all that He has to offer”.
St Augustine cried out in hungry desperation for God. He asked for, “the gift of your coming into my heart and filling it to the brim, so that I may forget all the wrong that I have done and embrace you alone, my only source of good.”
There are so many other so called alternatives that promise fulfilment, but don’t fill the hungry void in our lives. People might endeavor to quench their hunger with the accumulation of possessions, relationships, family, careers, money, travel, wealth etc. These pursuits aren’t bad in themselves, but they can be a distraction from the real satisfier of the hunger in the depths of our souls.
Why? Because Jesus is not a skinny Jesus who hasn’t got much to offer. He’s not low calorie or barely enough. He is full and overflowing, and has more than enough to sustain and bring unbelievable joy to our lives.
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever”. (Psalm 23:5)
But you have to be hungry. Jesus won’t force you to spend time with Him. He won’t force you to forgo the “fast food” substitutes in exchange for the “real deal”. Instead He gives us the opportunity everyday to choose.
To choose to let go of distractions. To stop snacking on those things that come and try and crowd out any room in our heart’s for Jesus and the life He wants to give us.
He cries out to each one of us “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.“Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live.” ( Isaiah 55:2)
“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart”. (Jeremiah 29:13)
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled”. (Matthew 5:6)
Today quit filling the hungry places in your life with those things that don’t satisfy, and choose to get to know and walk with everyday the one who called himself “the bread of life”. For when you do you will never hunger again.
Prayer: Jesus please help me to see those things which are crowding my heart and that are a poor substitute for knowing you. Forgive me where I have ignored you and chosen others to fill my heart and time rather than you. I make room in my life for you, that I would hunger after the one who truly satisfies my soul. In Jesus Name. Amen
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