Here we are: March of 2022 is coming to a close. The first three months of this year have been such a whirlwind for me. Work, travel, working out, church, and trying to be social have been on high speed. If I’m being honest, the last year has hovered at that speed. Don’t get me wrong. I love having a full and active life, but I can sometimes find fulfillment in the busyness. I can even find my identity in it as well.
The more I live in this rhythm, the more I want to live in this rhythm, and the easier it becomes to do so. It very much becomes an insatiable hunger. The past couple of years have been a huge opportunity to set aside every distraction in order to set my gaze upon Christ, but in so many ways, I fell short and missed much of the opportunity. Along with keeping myself busy, I took many occasions to mindlessly numb out and disconnect from life.
My church recently had a conference called The Presence of God Conference. With a name like that, the expectation was set really high. The guest pastor recounted many stories of how God ushered in a mighty revival in his dad’s church throughout much of his childhood. That powerful move of God marked his life in every way. This pastor, now in his seventies, had witnessed the Lord show up in more ways than he could remember. He repeatedly teared up in awe and wonder of what the Lord had done in his life. And it was simply from an overflow of spending intimate and consistent time with Him.
Hearing this convicted me. I began to reflect on the past year, and I realized that my hunger for God had waned significantly. I’d allowed myself to be satisfied with temporary and frivolous pleasures.
The beginning of Matthew 5 finds Jesus sitting on a mountainside with His disciples teaching them what it looks like to manifest Christlikeness. One of the verses that kept coming to mind was verse 6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” It’s a beautiful promise from God to His children. First comes hunger and then comes a filling.
We were created with a hunger or deep desire, and that desire is met in one way or another. This world offers countless ways to lose ourselves and the enemy of our souls offers even more.
The pastor at the conference shared how holy dissatisfaction is often what stirs up hunger for God within us, and I recognized that I had become too satisfied with what this life offers. It was definitely a wake-up call.
I’ve heard it said that God responds to hunger, and it’s true. In our own lives, we do the same thing. When we’re hungry, we respond and eat. We do this for our bodies, but we are also called to do this for our souls. We have been given Jesus, the Bread of Life and our Living Water. He became broken bread and poured-out wine for us on the cross, and He is the only One who can completely satisfy our hunger. In light of that sacrifice, how could we not yearn for Him above anything and everything else?
As this year keeps going, I want to live a life defined by a deep longing for Christ and Christ alone. I want to be ruined for anything else that claims to satisfy. I want to hunger and thirst for God knowing that He is faithful to respond and move as only He can do.
Have you become satisfied with what leaves you empty? How can you turn back toward God to feed the hunger of your soul?
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