Forgetting To Eat
Our youngest son, Austin, would probably forget to eat if we didn’t remind him it was time. I’m not sure how that happens. I can hardly get done with one meal before I’m thinking about what I can have for a snack or the next meal. I’m certainly not going to forget.
But he’s a busy fella at age 5, and it seems there are often more important tasks to tackle in life than stopping to stuff his face. And yet, there are those occasions when he is actually hungry and lets us know it.
Additionally, it doesn’t take a lot to fill him up. That’s going to be a good thing down the road, I hope. But for now, we just want to make sure he’s not hungry.
I Think I Was Hungry
Recently, he was eating a meal when he said to Angela, “I think I was hungry, but I forgot because now I’m full.” It was like it dawned on his five-year-old mind that the sensation of hunger he had been experiencing had suddenly stopped after eating a little, and now he was having to try to figure out if he had really even been hungry.
Now We’re Full
We’re not so different from my favorite five-year-old in the whole world, you know… We begin this thing we call a relationship with Jesus so “hungry” to know Him… and love Him… and serve Him. We download every worship album we can find. We listen to every sermon the pastor preaches and make sure to go back and listen to the archives of the ones we missed.
But at some point, we have “taken in some” of Jesus, and we become a somewhat satisfied. Our “hunger” for the Lord is diminished to the point we wonder what it even felt like to be “hungry.” And perhaps we even ask, “Was I hungry? Is this real? Is this all there is?”
And sometimes, we get a little “hungry” again because we hit a tough spot in life… there is report of disease from a doctor… or there are lay-offs at work… or there are struggles in a marriage. Suddenly, we are on the search for something to “eat” that will satisfy the “hunger” we feel.
Recalling Hunger Pangs
This is not a slam against those who have forgotten they were once “hungry” for Jesus and were “devouring” anything they could to draw close to Him. Jesus came to satisfy us.
The key is to remember that “hunger” initially drove us to pursue Jesus. And it is the continued pursuit of Him which will keep us satisfied.
I’ve never been on a cruise, but they say there is an endless supply of food round the clock. I like that idea. I like to eat to keep from being hungry.
And maybe that’s a good way to go after Jesus… Remember what it was like to be hungry initially… to be lacking Him… and instead of waiting till someone tells us it’s time to eat or till our stomach is gnawing away at our backbone spiritually, perhaps we should just keep satisfying ourselves with Jesus to keep from being hungry.
P.S.
Last word, while we may become somewhat satisfied ourselves, let’s not forget that there are billions of others across this world who are “starving” for something (aka Jesus) and yet have not even been told “dinner is served.” May we who are now “full” never forget our “hunger,” nor that others are “hungry” also.
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