Food for thought...I've been pondering John 6:35 since memorizing it with the kids a couple weeks ago.
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."
I certainly know what it is to hunger and thirst both physically and spiritually. Spiritually, it's that longing for more of the One who created us, to know Him more and enter into deeper intimacy with Him. And He says in Matthew 5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." So, I know this hunger and thirst - to long to be free from the sin that so easily entangles and that every moment would be a God moment because He lives in me!!! and that makes all the difference in the world. In fact, other than sprinklings of intimate moments, I have to say that most of my conscious spiritual thoughts revolve around being hungry and thirsty for more than my day to day experience rather than a day to day experience or sense of being filled.
What does it really mean that if I come to Him, I'll never hunger and if I believe in Him I'll never thirst? At face value, it seems to mean that my spiritual needs and desires will be satiated or satisfied when I come to Him and believe in Him. I think that also goes along with abiding in Him. Yet,how do I get from hungering and thirsting - from longing- to satisfaction?
From these verses, the answer is quite simple, come to Him, believe, have the hunger and thirst and the rest is His work. As I've pondered this for about 3 weeks, struggling for some substantive answer to make sense of my reality, I finally feel some revelation from God and confidence to finish this post that I started a week ago.
I think that as a society, we are largely hungry/thirsty for more, for bigger, restless and never satisfied. In God we want to see or experience something big that effortlessly maintains itself in our thoughts and actions. And, I think, the hungering and thirsting is pretty effortless, but maybe the coming is the problem. My mom shared a Francis Chan sermon on her blog Bible study on the Fear of the Lord. (Links to both: www.rebeccapsmall.com and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXPKK9QNpJA)
What does it really mean that if I come to Him, I'll never hunger and if I believe in Him I'll never thirst? At face value, it seems to mean that my spiritual needs and desires will be satiated or satisfied when I come to Him and believe in Him. I think that also goes along with abiding in Him. Yet,how do I get from hungering and thirsting - from longing- to satisfaction?
From these verses, the answer is quite simple, come to Him, believe, have the hunger and thirst and the rest is His work. As I've pondered this for about 3 weeks, struggling for some substantive answer to make sense of my reality, I finally feel some revelation from God and confidence to finish this post that I started a week ago.
I think that as a society, we are largely hungry/thirsty for more, for bigger, restless and never satisfied. In God we want to see or experience something big that effortlessly maintains itself in our thoughts and actions. And, I think, the hungering and thirsting is pretty effortless, but maybe the coming is the problem. My mom shared a Francis Chan sermon on her blog Bible study on the Fear of the Lord. (Links to both: www.rebeccapsmall.com and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXPKK9QNpJA)
In Chan's video, he talks about coming to God and how often as Christians we go to church to hear from God or chase around this or that person who seems to really be connecting to God when He has given us access directly to Himself. We don't have to be content with hearing from Moses, we can go up the mountain and meet with the fearful, living God ourselves. We can come...
So, I found myself sitting outside early this morning, listening to the sound of the waves and the sound of God's voice, simply walking up the mountain myself, quieting myself and feeling filled. I need to do that more and by the grace of God, the more time I spend in His presence, I may like Moses, bring His glory down and show others the path to the top of that mountain.
So, I found myself sitting outside early this morning, listening to the sound of the waves and the sound of God's voice, simply walking up the mountain myself, quieting myself and feeling filled. I need to do that more and by the grace of God, the more time I spend in His presence, I may like Moses, bring His glory down and show others the path to the top of that mountain.
In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock; you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand to give them.
God is a God who delights in satisfying His people, in giving good gifts. I think often we're hungering for the wrong things, however. We're hungering for something bigger, deeper, more life changing...for the things He does, the biproduct of being with Him rather than hungering simply for God Himself. Like Adam and Eve in the garden, we have been given rich abundance, all that we need and more and we find ourselves pining for the one thing we can't have, the one thing He knows we don't need.
But, if we will hunger for God Himself - the Joy of all the Earth, and we come to Him, we will be satisfied, satiated, filled. Not just thrown scraps or having the edge taken off our hunger - but be filled.
How does this fit in with my mission to help kids eat healthier/be healthier? Well, I'll post some great recipes we've used this past week, but more important than what they put in their stomachs, we need to show our children where to find and how to find spiritual satisfaction - to lead them up the mountain that they too may be filled rather than left wandering in the desert pining for satisfaction in God but feeling hungry and thirsty.
For lent, we have given up sugar, so the following are some recipes we've found to be delightful and sugar free! Hands down best is the Chocolate Avocado mousse - lots of different recipe options on the web! Those on Pinterest can follow my "sugar free sweetness" board for more!
http://www.scalingbackblog.com/sweet-treats/chocolate-hazelnut-avocado-cake/
http://www.rawmazing.com/white-chocolate-dark-chocolate-raspberry-tort/
http://thecoconutmama.com/2012/09/homemade-chocolate-chips-soy-free-dairy-free-vegan/
http://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/2014/07/the-best-coconut-flour-chocolate-chunk-bars/
No comments:
Post a Comment