Monday, May 23, 2011

Hunger for God

Well,
I wanted to just put a quick post to share some thoughts that have been on my heart today. This is not a ministry update, or request for money, just what has been going on in my heart tonight. The title is called "Hunger For God" because that is exactly what I want to talk about.
There will not be much heartfelt obedience to God, if any, without a Hunger for God. When I say heartfelt obedience I am meaning an obedience that honors God. Yes, that does mean that you can follow the "rules" and "do the right things" and not honor God. The Pharisees did it all throughout the New Testament and Jesus rebuked them over and over again for it. You see, that can happen when the Hunger of our souls, what satisfies us, what makes us tick, is not God or His glory. There are hundreds of wrong motivations for doing the right things. And yes, I do believe with all of my heart that this does matter to Jesus. Jesus is not after behavioral change, He is after Hearts. I wish I had time to go through every scripture reference, but I will just hit some highlights to prove this. This is evident in the sermon on the mount when Jesus talks about how we pray, how we fast, and how we give to the needy. In all three cases He says that there are ways to do these things that do NOT honor God! Also in Matthew Jesus quotes a prophesy from Isaiah about the Pharisees, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me..." Look at the "things" Jesus is talking about. Praying, fasting, giving to the needy, and honoring God with their lips. These are all great things!!! But Jesus rebukes doing them with the wrong motives!
My point here is that the number one goal of our life is not to get our behavior changed, but to have our taste buds changed. Or we could say that the first and highest goal for humans is to have a hunger for God. I would even venture to say that the most important thing about me and you is how strong or weak our hunger for God is. That needs to be addressed first and foremost everyday of our lives. When God's glory tastes sweeter to us than our own glory, or fame, or wealth, or comfort, or status, etc... everything else will fall into place. The hunger for God and His glory is where it all starts. It's in the heart.
I want to encourage and exhort you to fight (harder than you've ever fought for anything) to have a hunger for God. Saturate yourself with His word and His presence through prayer. Don't be o.k. with living life with little or no appetite for God. Don't be o.k. with even one day of little or no appetite for God. If it is not there, repent, beg God for it, fight for it, chase it, with all your energy and resources. If it is there, cultivate it, keep fighting for it, and thank God for the grace granted you to desire Him. Don't ever take it for granted or think that because it is there today, it will be tomorrow. Whether we have a hunger for God right now or not, we are all in the same fight. I'm just exhorting you to be in the fight. It's worth it.