That Special Hunger and Thirst!

Here's a funny post from the guys at the Freakonomics blog about Root Beer. 

Economist Steven Levitt writes, "I happened to be driving by an A&W restaurant the other day. I also happened to be thirsty. So I stopped in to order a frosty mug of root beer. 'We're out of root beer,' the worker told me. How can A&W run out of root beer? You might think that the first rule at A&W would be to always have root beer."

The comments section of the blog post was filled with other horror stories: an Italian restaurant that ran out of pasta, an Arby's that ran out of roast beef, a Panera that ran out of bread, and a Dunkin Donuts that ran out of donuts.

Why, it's just like a church that has run out of good news or love!

-Freakonomics.com, September 14, 2012, Steven D. Levitt

Nutritionists tell us that we are what we eat. Now I don't know how literally you want to take that, or interpret it, but literally it could mean that if you eat a fish supper, well, you are a fish supper. And if you eat a steak, well, walking down the road you're a steak. But scientifically speaking, and medically speaking, what you are is what you eat. For what we eat and what we take into our body and inwardly digest, it becomes part of us.

One of the best illustrations of that is water that we drink. Now, we drink water for many reasons, but our body is made up of water in the majority, but our blood is also comprised of water. So we need to drink water because water becomes part of us, it becomes part of our body. Again, we are what we eat!

But sadly many people have seen this within the natural realm; and they have failed to see it within the spiritual realm. They have failed to see that in our world, whether they're saved or unsaved, that if they feed continually upon violence, upon excitement, upon erotica, upon all that the world has to offer, materialism and money -- eventually those things that they feed on will personify them, they will become those things. 

They will become what they eat. A great scholar on one occasion said, "As you think, you are". The things you think, you become. The things you inwardly digest, you personify them.

Ask yourself, my friend: we're prepared to hunger and thirst after anything, aren't we? We can hunger and thirst after spiritual maturity, and that's good. We can hunger and thirst after real happiness, real joy, deep down in our hearts. We even hunger after the Spirit's power, and if we're not there's something wrong with that. We can hunger after witnessing skills, and ways in which to cleverly win others to Christ.

How do you know if you're hungering and thirsting after righteousness? Are you satisfied with yourself? For Christian friend, if you are, you're in trouble. The old puritan said, 'He has most need of righteousness who least wants it'. And the person in here that is not saved and doesn't even consider or want to get saved, you're in need of it more. Do you think of everyone else as worse than yourself? Or that you're right and everyone else is wrong? 

Do externals in the Christian life satisfy you? The way the person is dressed, the version of the Bible they read -- I'm not saying that's unimportant, but is that what satisfies you? Do you fill your appetite with the wrong stuff? Do materials influence the way you feel in life? Is the word of God sweet to your taste? Or do you say: 'I want Christ, but I want my sin as well. I want Christ, but I want my money. I want Christ, but I want my pride -- just keep a little bit of it Lord, just a little for myself. I want Christ, but I want to keep my lust'. 

Sadly, the tragedy is that many Christians have this hunger in their own soul and they're feeding it. They're seeking the same things as the world is, and they find that they are as empty and pathetic as the world themselves.

In Luke 16:24, the rich man was in hell -- and some of you will be in hell if you don't trust Christ -- but he was in hell, and what did he ask for? Just a drop of water, just a drop of water on my tongue. Beloved, that's the kind of thirst that you ought to have for God. May God bless His word to our hearts!  -Special thanks to David Legge

Scripture: John 6:35; Micah 6:8; Matthew 25:35; Luke 1:53; Isaiah 58:10; James 2:15-17; Amos 5:24; Mark 6:30-44

Prayer: Our Father, we are so preoccupied at times with ourselves and with this world, Lord, that we fail to be hungry and thirsty in a desperate way for Thy righteousness, and Thy power, and Thy presence in our lives. Lord, give us an insatiable satisfaction, a thirst that cannot be quenched with Christ alone, but more of Christ, and more of Christ, and more of Christ -- until that day when we see Christ, and we are as He is. Amen

May God bless you always!

Charmaine