Real Hunger

Odds are the majority of us have never really been hungry. We've said we are, we've had that growling stomach or lack of energy feeling but we have never truly been hungry. Hunger is a funny word, it's a word that is used to describe all kinds of things. Hunger is a word used for motivation or a determination of how bad a sports team wants to wing. Hunger is used to do so much, yet it means to want food more than anything else. It means you would trade everything you have, everything you own for a meal, or even a half a meal. We see pictures of people in third world countries who do know what it means to be hungry, who do experience the pain that comes with starving. The lack of nutrition, lack of energy and overall weakness that is caused impairs all of the body's abilities.
I have had some fun with this through the years holding fasts in the youth group. We will set up a 24 hour time frame where the kids cannot eat, cannot have anything other than water for an entire 24 hour period. We did this back in my youth minister days and we would plan it out from noon Saturday to noon Sunday. The kids would be sitting in sunday school and church almost in pain. Looking at people chewing gum or eating candy and thinking that would quite possibly satisfy at that point. I even had a few fake going to the bathroom one year and go eat snacks with the kids in the nursery. It's hilarious to see how they deal with it.
JEsus shared about another type of hunger, a hunger for meaning in life.
John 6:35
Then Jesus declared, "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.
These words were directly from Jesus himself, who once fasted for an entire month! Yikes, my fasts generally go a few days, never a month and certainly not in a desert as Jesus did. So, he knew of physical hunger and thirst but he was addressing our hunger for purpose in life. Everyone hungers for this whether they realize it or not and once we find Jesus, ask Him into our hearts and move on we are never spiritually malnourished again. We find ourselves full, full of the Holy Spirit and power. Full of purpose and love that can come only from knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. So today I challenge you to think about those who are unsaved, and the hunger that they face for purpose in life. I promise you they are struggling with it, they find little fulfillments, but they will be left hungry in the end.
Thanks for reading and have a great day! I had the absolute best weekend I could have had!