What Are You Offering a "Hangry" World?
I like food. I like food a lot. I like food at regularly scheduled times, and I even like food in between times! And when I don't get food when my tummy is expecting food, bad things start to happen. I get a little grumpy. Sometimes my head starts to hurt a little. Which makes me a little grumpier. Wait too long, and I'm just downright crabby. I get "hangry" -- this Texas girl is MAD that she ain't gettin' her dinner! Not real proud of this fact, but it IS a fact.
Something else that I've discovered about myself is that the "hangry" principle applies to my spiritual life as well. Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." (John 6:35) When I want -- or think I NEED food -- I make just about every effort to track down something to eat. I know the bad trail I'll end up going down if I don't eat something soon. I'm longing to be satisfied with a full belly. And logically, I know the same thing about my spirit. I know that I need to spend time with the Bread of Life, reading His Word, listening to His heartbeat in the quiet, sharing with Him my burdens and joys, lifting my songs up to Him in praise and thanks. And again -- I'm longing to be satisfied. I'm longing to be full of Jesus. And I know that if I neglect this need, my soul will grow dry and weary.
Every follower of Jesus has that same Bread of Life available -- nourishing us, growing us in faith, strengthening us for life's journey, and ultimately giving us Himself -- LIFE. And we each have the privilege of sharing that Bread with those who don't yet know the rescue from sin, the hope of Heaven, the light for their path, the love of their Father. And guess what -- a world hungry for Jesus tends to get "hangry" in a hurry. The sad part is that a lot of times, they don't know what they're hungry for.
Sometimes I picture myself sneaking among a bunch of starving people with a couple of soft, warm loaves of bread tucked inside my trench coat -- hoarding the very thing that could inject LIFE into their worn, thin, hurting bodies. And then I wonder why they're mean. Or selfish. Or cruel. Or spiteful. Or nasty. Turns out, they're just "hangry." The very thing they need to feed their souls -- the Bread of Life -- has never been offered to them. Or they've been too proud or set in their ways to accept something so humble as simple Bread to satisfy their deepest need.
Ultimately, though, it is the privilege and the responsibility of the Christ-followers to hold out open hands full of the "Living Bread that came down from Heaven" (John 6:51) to share with the starving souls of the world. WE are "the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved." (II Corinthians 2:15) May the Spirit of God live and speak through us in such a way that the aroma of fresh Bread is irresistible to those hungry souls.
Something else that I've discovered about myself is that the "hangry" principle applies to my spiritual life as well. Jesus said, "I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." (John 6:35) When I want -- or think I NEED food -- I make just about every effort to track down something to eat. I know the bad trail I'll end up going down if I don't eat something soon. I'm longing to be satisfied with a full belly. And logically, I know the same thing about my spirit. I know that I need to spend time with the Bread of Life, reading His Word, listening to His heartbeat in the quiet, sharing with Him my burdens and joys, lifting my songs up to Him in praise and thanks. And again -- I'm longing to be satisfied. I'm longing to be full of Jesus. And I know that if I neglect this need, my soul will grow dry and weary.
Every follower of Jesus has that same Bread of Life available -- nourishing us, growing us in faith, strengthening us for life's journey, and ultimately giving us Himself -- LIFE. And we each have the privilege of sharing that Bread with those who don't yet know the rescue from sin, the hope of Heaven, the light for their path, the love of their Father. And guess what -- a world hungry for Jesus tends to get "hangry" in a hurry. The sad part is that a lot of times, they don't know what they're hungry for.
Sometimes I picture myself sneaking among a bunch of starving people with a couple of soft, warm loaves of bread tucked inside my trench coat -- hoarding the very thing that could inject LIFE into their worn, thin, hurting bodies. And then I wonder why they're mean. Or selfish. Or cruel. Or spiteful. Or nasty. Turns out, they're just "hangry." The very thing they need to feed their souls -- the Bread of Life -- has never been offered to them. Or they've been too proud or set in their ways to accept something so humble as simple Bread to satisfy their deepest need.
Ultimately, though, it is the privilege and the responsibility of the Christ-followers to hold out open hands full of the "Living Bread that came down from Heaven" (John 6:51) to share with the starving souls of the world. WE are "the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved." (II Corinthians 2:15) May the Spirit of God live and speak through us in such a way that the aroma of fresh Bread is irresistible to those hungry souls.