A little warmer weather is headed this way. I have no complaints, but my heart goes out to those fighting raging forest fires and contending with flash floods. My prayers are with you all. I pray for the rain to stop and travel where it is now needed. It seems a bit bold to talk about a cup of coffee this morning when many have more than that on their minds.
Last night we kicked off the start of our Men's Ministry Weekly Bible Study. We really got into the word and enjoyed the challenge. Attendance was higher than normal. We had a few things to eat like we usually do for light snack. We had many prayer requests and spent time praying.
I thought about our study and was pleased with the participation. I gave the prayer time an A grade and who doesn't like a few snacks? But it made me think. Where are the other guys who do not belong to a Bible study? I am afraid that they have adopted snacking as their solution to Spiritual growth and have lost their hunger for feasting with God.
So many Christians today snack their way through the day on "junk-food" activities and then find they have no time to "feast" with God. We complain about our "busyness" and tiredness, but that is typically a spiritual problem more than a problem of schedule. We desire everything except God. We take God in small doses throughout the day and week and somehow hope that on Sunday we can "catch up" on our time with the Lord.
Let’s look at the Scriptures which speak of developing this hunger and thirst for God:
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6).
"…whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14).
"Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and ho believes in me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35).
"On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him’" (John 7:37-38).
"Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?" (Isaiah 55:1-2).
"O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water" (Psalm 63:1).
"The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life" (Revelation 22:17).
It is obvious that the image of hungering and thirsting after God is a scriptural concept. From the prophets of the Old Testament to Jesus and on through to the book of Revelation, the people of God are depicted as those who have developed a desire for God. Could it be that the missing element in the Church today is that desire for God Himself? And we have convinced ourselves that "feelings" are a substitute for a desire for God and His righteousness? Whatever it is, I pray that the drive through window of self indulgent feelings would close. It is unhealthy Spiritual dining.
Psalm 37:4English Standard Version (ESV)
4 Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
When you delight in the Lord, He becomes the desire of your heart!
Something to chew on?
Marty
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