Love to hear from and know who is listening
Nothing is more demanding than a newborn baby that is hungry. The child will scream at the top of its lungs until the he or she gets what they desire. Newborns crave milk with a passion. When they are hungry, they have no patience, they cry out to be satisfied and to be satisfied right now! Their hunger is not some passive, “I can do that later,” kind of thing. The bible tells us that we are to crave the milk of the word just like newborn babies.
1 Peter 2:2 CSB Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation,
How often do newborns crave milk? Do they only want to eat once a week on Sundays? Or perhaps once a day? No! A newborn baby is likely to want to eat every 2-3 hours, resulting in eight feedings a day. This leads me to ask myself the question; How often do I crave the Word of God? In Deuteronomy chapter 6 the bible gives us a clear answer to this question.
Deuteronomy 6: 6-9 CSB These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.
I don’t know about you, but it wouldn’t hurt me to be a little more hungry for God’s word. I get hungry on Sunday mornings and most Wednesday nights and occasionally during the week I will study God’s word. Can you imagine how you would feel physically if you only ate 3 times a week? I don’t know about you, but I get hungry for a meal or a snack many times, sometimes more than 3 times a day! And if I miss a meal, I feel the physical effects of it almost immediately. At times I think I could use my stomach to keep track of the time of day. So why don't I have the same desire and need for spiritual nourishment? The bible also says that I should hunger and thirst for righteousness and that if I do it will be a blessing.
Matthew 5: 6 CSB Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
To hunger and thirst doesn’t resonate today like it did in Jesus’ day. When food and water were scarce, people were often hungry and thirsty. In our culture, food and water are plentiful, so are we missing or not grasping the urgency Jesus intended? Hungry, thirsty people work hard, urgently, to get food. To hunger and thirst for righteousness, means we should urgently pursue righteousness. To hunger for righteousness is to yearn for God’s rule in our lives. It is to have a thirst for God’s Word and for the company of our Christian brothers and sisters! Do you hunger for righteousness? Do you pursue holiness? Or are you satisfied with a snack of righteousness once a week on Sunday mornings. Do you have a passionless routine, a dull, dutiful life, no different than the rest of the world around you? Or like the newborn baby do you cry out for the word of God in such a way that everyone can see that you are not satisfied, that you are starving for more time in God’s word! Real disciples yearn for God’s righteousness and pursue it. It is my prayer for both me and you that we are hungry for God’s word just like the newborn baby is for milk!
