From Pastor Darrell,
O taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalm 34:8
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5:6
For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. John 6:55
Some of my best childhood memories include visits to my grandparent’s farm. Memories that included the rhythmic beat of my grandmother’s pressure cooker on the kitchen stove as she made lunch and dinner. A cooker usually filled with butter beans or black-eye peas! Memories of my granddad’s Yellow-Meated watermelon just cut open, its yellow juice dripping off our hands and face as we gorged it down. Memories of my grandmother’s red velvet cake, eaten with with a glass of cold milk. We did more than eat on our visits, but the food certainly stands out. Delicious-delightful-delectable food. Though our family customs and food traditions can be miles, sometimes even continents, apart we all enjoy eating good food with good company.
Our interest in food is God-given and points us to something far greater than butter beans and watermelon. Notice in the above verses how God’s Word takes the simple act of eating and drinking and uses it to convey an important truth about finding fulfillment in life. Just as our bodies hunger and thirst for nourishment to sustain natural life, so God created our souls to hunger and thirst for nourishment that sustains spiritual life. What separates some people from others is not that some hunger and thirst and others do not. No, rather what separates some from others is how they satisfy their hunger and how they satisfy their thirst. Through the years, I have found that people try to satisfy their deepest hungers for identity and deepest thirsts for fulfillment from several sources.
One source is people. Many of us try to fill the hunger of our soul with human relationships. This attitude can be seen in the man or woman who thinks that if they marry Mr. Right or Miss Perfect, all their problems will go away. They begin to think that what makes them complete is a handsome man or a beautiful woman. They falsely assume that their life will never really be complete until they have that “certain person” who can make all their dreams come true. What often happens after the two meet and get married however is that each find out that the other person wasn’t as perfect and pretty as they once believed. After a couple of years, Mr. Right and Miss Perfect grow distant and begin to think that another husband or another wife will satisfy their soul’s hunger.
Another source is places. Here is the person who thinks that living in a certain State or certain climate or certain home will make their dreams come true. This is the person who believes that a home somewhere else or a job somewhere else or a school somewhere else will satisfy their soul’s thirst for fulfillment. The problem with moving somewhere else is that we bring ourselves with us! More often than not, the problem does not come from our circumstances around us but our soul within us. Our circumstances are not the problem; we are the problem. It doesn’t take long for the newness of that “somewhere else” to wear off and we find ourselves right back where we began.
God has a better plan. The only hunger and thirst that is satisfied is the hunger and thirst that leads to righteousness found in Jesus Christ. As one Christians put it several years ago, “if what you have to have in order to be okay is anything other than Jesus, then you will never be okay.” 2000 years ago, God entered time and space as a Jewish baby named Jesus. He lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death on a cross of crucifixion outside of Jerusalem. Three days later, He rose from the dead having conquered sin and the grave. He did this in order that the deepest demands of our soul’s hunger and thirst might be fulfilled in Him. A. W. Tozer put it this way, “God is so vastly wonderful-so utterly and completely delightful that He can without anything other than Himself meet and overflow the deepest demands of our total nature, mysterious and deep as that nature is.” The only thing we need to be okay is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. As we celebrate Easter this month, let’s feast upon the reality that Jesus is enough!
YBIC,
O taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalm 34:8
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5:6
For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. John 6:55
Some of my best childhood memories include visits to my grandparent’s farm. Memories that included the rhythmic beat of my grandmother’s pressure cooker on the kitchen stove as she made lunch and dinner. A cooker usually filled with butter beans or black-eye peas! Memories of my granddad’s Yellow-Meated watermelon just cut open, its yellow juice dripping off our hands and face as we gorged it down. Memories of my grandmother’s red velvet cake, eaten with with a glass of cold milk. We did more than eat on our visits, but the food certainly stands out. Delicious-delightful-delectable food. Though our family customs and food traditions can be miles, sometimes even continents, apart we all enjoy eating good food with good company.
Our interest in food is God-given and points us to something far greater than butter beans and watermelon. Notice in the above verses how God’s Word takes the simple act of eating and drinking and uses it to convey an important truth about finding fulfillment in life. Just as our bodies hunger and thirst for nourishment to sustain natural life, so God created our souls to hunger and thirst for nourishment that sustains spiritual life. What separates some people from others is not that some hunger and thirst and others do not. No, rather what separates some from others is how they satisfy their hunger and how they satisfy their thirst. Through the years, I have found that people try to satisfy their deepest hungers for identity and deepest thirsts for fulfillment from several sources.
One source is people. Many of us try to fill the hunger of our soul with human relationships. This attitude can be seen in the man or woman who thinks that if they marry Mr. Right or Miss Perfect, all their problems will go away. They begin to think that what makes them complete is a handsome man or a beautiful woman. They falsely assume that their life will never really be complete until they have that “certain person” who can make all their dreams come true. What often happens after the two meet and get married however is that each find out that the other person wasn’t as perfect and pretty as they once believed. After a couple of years, Mr. Right and Miss Perfect grow distant and begin to think that another husband or another wife will satisfy their soul’s hunger.
Another source is places. Here is the person who thinks that living in a certain State or certain climate or certain home will make their dreams come true. This is the person who believes that a home somewhere else or a job somewhere else or a school somewhere else will satisfy their soul’s thirst for fulfillment. The problem with moving somewhere else is that we bring ourselves with us! More often than not, the problem does not come from our circumstances around us but our soul within us. Our circumstances are not the problem; we are the problem. It doesn’t take long for the newness of that “somewhere else” to wear off and we find ourselves right back where we began.
God has a better plan. The only hunger and thirst that is satisfied is the hunger and thirst that leads to righteousness found in Jesus Christ. As one Christians put it several years ago, “if what you have to have in order to be okay is anything other than Jesus, then you will never be okay.” 2000 years ago, God entered time and space as a Jewish baby named Jesus. He lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death on a cross of crucifixion outside of Jerusalem. Three days later, He rose from the dead having conquered sin and the grave. He did this in order that the deepest demands of our soul’s hunger and thirst might be fulfilled in Him. A. W. Tozer put it this way, “God is so vastly wonderful-so utterly and completely delightful that He can without anything other than Himself meet and overflow the deepest demands of our total nature, mysterious and deep as that nature is.” The only thing we need to be okay is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. As we celebrate Easter this month, let’s feast upon the reality that Jesus is enough!
YBIC,
RSS Feed