Your Daily Devotional for April 2, 2006

April 2, 2006

 

Are you Still Hungry?

by Dr. Paul Chappell

 

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."
Matthew 5:6

 

Hunger is an evidence of life. If you are alive, you can count on being hungry at some point during the day. The same is true if you have been born spiritually. If you are alive in Christ, naturally you should hunger to know God. When a Christian never seems to hunger for the Word of God, does not want to go to church and has generally lost all interest in the things of God, it is a great cause for concern. Because hunger is evidence that we are alive spiritually, when it is missing we should check our vital signs.

 

As a physically dead person does not have an appetite for anything, the spiritually dead man has no appetite for the things of God. Many times in His Word, God compares His people to sheep. The Bible tells us in Psalm 23 that as sheep, we are drawn to still waters and to green pastures. As children of God, we are to hunger and to thirst for a relationship with God and for the sustenance that He can offer.

 

Not only is hunger an evidence of life; hunger is an evidence of good health. One of the first signs that someone has become very sick is that they have lost their appetite.

 

I remember when our son, Larry was born in Santa Clara, California. We went to the hospital and we were ready to bring him home, but the doctor said, "We're sorry, we can't let you bring him home yet. Something is wrong." In fact, something was terribly wrong. His fever had gone amazingly high and he did not want to eat. They became very concerned, as a virus had set into his little body and we spent many a night there in the hospital, sleeping through the night and waiting for our son's health to improve. The first sign that there was a problem was when he had no appetite for food.

Often, when a Christian has lost his appetite for the things of God it is because he has filled it with the pleasures of the world. I think about the story in Luke 15 of the Prodigal son. The Bible tells us that he had an appetite for the world's excitement.

However, as illustrated throughout the Bible, sin never satisfies. Soon, the Prodigal son’s money ran out and his excitement wore off. He became a hired servant feeding swine in the fields. He became so low that he “would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat.” It was at this point that he finally came to himself and said, "How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!" (Luke 15:17)

 

The Prodigal son learned a lesson that many learn to late. “Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.” (Proverbs 27:20)

 

So, what are you craving? If you are not hungering for God's righteousness, then you either have never been spiritually born or you are too full of the world to desire the Word of God or to desire the fellowship of God's people. Have you “had enough” of the things of God or are you still hungry?

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