I'm Hungry

I’m hungry. It’s close to noon, I swam before coming to work today, had a light breakfast, and a busy morning. I’m really hungry. Those of you who know me well, know that this is not a good thing. When I get hungry, my thinking gets fuzzy (fuzzier than normal) I get grouchy (I believe Colleen Cawthon used to call it “cranky”) I get short with people, and life generally goes downhill until I eat.

Now, you might think that I’m just catering to my flesh. You might say, “snap out of it,” or, “toughen up buttercup.” Yeah well, come over here and say that – wait, no, that’s just the low blood sugar talking. The great spiritual point that I need to make here, is that in the same way that our body needs food to function properly, our whole being needs to feed on the Word and presence of God in order work right.

Every Christian knows that we need to have a steady diet of God’s word and Presence. This isn’t just some religious obligation that we observe; feeding on God is life to us. Jesus said it right? He said that man does not live by bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. God’s words, the things that He is currently speaking to us on a daily basis, are full of His life. They fill us and energize us spiritually. In fact, the Bible says that God’s word actually brings health to our flesh. It was no coincidence that Jesus used the analogy of food to describe the way the word of God works. Jesus said that His words are spirit and life. When we ingest the word, we ingest again and again, the life of the spirit. In the same way that certain foods carry specific nutrients that our body needs in order to stay healthy, the word of God carries the capacity, the spiritual power, within itself to bring itself to pass.

So, when God speaks to me about mercy for example, He doesn’t just give me a lesson about the meaning of mercy, or tell me that I had better try harder to be merciful, He actually infuses me with a dose of mercy that reproduces itself in me. All of a sudden, a specific aspect of God’s nature that we know as mercy is flowing, not only to me, but through me to others. We call that bearing the fruit of the Spirit. When God speaks to me about healing, His words carry the power to bring healing to me, and at the same time build faith in me toward God for healing. Suddenly, not only am I experiencing healing, but I am a carrier of His healing for someone else. You could say that I am infected with healing, and contagious with healing. I can go out and infect someone else with God’s healing (either that is right, or I really need to eat).

Oh, by the way, God’s Word and God’s Presence always go hand in hand. Well, not always, but we do really terrible things with God’s word when we get it outside of His presence. The Holy Spirit is there to bring the word to life in us, and to keep it in the context of God’s nature. So I love to encourage Christians to spend lots of time in God’s word coupled with His presence. Worship a while, talk to Him a while, read the word a while, meditate the word a while, worship some more, pray some more, listen a lot – like that. That is a great meal that will produce abundant life in and through us.

One last thought. I believe that God is setting a table for us constantly and inviting us to sit down with Him and eat. I think the table is specific to us as individuals, and yet He is generally speaking the same things all over the earth. What’s our part? Simple, come and eat. He won’t force you, but you’ll be so glad you did. If you go to bed hungry tonight, it’s not God’s fault, not a “wilderness experience,” not a “test or a trial,” you just didn’t stop long enough to sit down and eat. Good news – the table is still set, and there is a place with your name on it.

Now, I have got to get some lunch.