Never satisfying this hunger

We all have an intense hunger within us. A desire for Someone. We mistake it many times for something- food, games, fellowship, relationship, even religious activity.

None of these things will truly satisfy, though they may temporarily fill us. I intellectually acknowledge this. I nod my head up and down. Yes, Jesus is the One I long for. Yes, He is beautiful. Yes, God created me for love- to know His love and to love Him in return.

My rhetoric and intellectual knowledge of these things is void without the joining of a life lived in reflection of these things. Understanding theology means nothing if my salvation is not worked out with "fear and trembling." I find myself drowning in my own words.

If I cannot run with men, how will I run with horses? Knowing that my flesh fights against the Spirit is not enough. I must walk by the Spirit. Reading about fasting and prayer is not enough. A lifestyle like this must be established out of a deep desire to be in intimate communion with God. They are not forced ritualistic means to twist God's arm to get His attention. They are not a burden. They are the Christian's lifestyle. God chooses the weak things of the world to shame the wise. Prayer and fasting make us look weak and do not typify the traditional Western Christian that does much but avails little fruit. We try from our own strength and then we are surprised and disillusioned by the results.

We think that a 10 min. prayer and the rest of our days spent planning means that we are relying on God. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

A burden is this- being a slave of this world. A burden is the spirit of this age that has us drunk with its longings and distractions from the ONE THING we all need- Jesus.

This is not optional. If we do not pursue Him with the spiritual violence of Matthew 11:12, we will soon find we are the very whitewashed tombs who go through the motions of church, bible study, and all the rest without actually understanding the God we serve. Then, when the time comes, we will be offended by the Jesus we thought we knew just as in Mark 6:3. The village Jesus grew up in thought they understood Him. They were familiar with a Jesus they did not know ( John 1:11).

We need a vision for this marathon that we are running. Keeping our eyes on the prize set before us. Eternal mindsets reflected by set lives lived in holiness unto the Lord. How will we spend our money and our time? What will our eyes and lips take in and spit out?

Galatians 6:7-9

7Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature[a]will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

We may deceive others with our religious motions, but God is not mocked! What a statement that I should tremble at, yet, I do not, because I myself have allowed my heart to backslide. God knows all of us. He knows your secret life and deeds. He sees where you spend time, money,and what you do with your eyes and lips- where your heart is. What a fearful thing indeed it is to fall into the hands of the living God. I don't want to stand before Him with regret about living a life not worthy of Him and what He has done.

Jesus is for real. He is alive. He knows me. He waits patiently to return.

2 Peter 3:9

He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

He is a King. He is the lover of the human soul. He is also a judge. He cannot and will not tolerate sin- it must be judged because He is just. He is coming back.

How do I live my life to walk worthy of this God-man who is in love with me? Let us repent. Weep and lament our spiritual poverty. Then let us stand and walk with Him anew. Let us pursue Him as people who are truly in love- crazy in love-willing to risk all, lay all down, for He went to the cross and did beyond all that we can fathom to just be with us.

I am more like the woman at the well than I know.

John 4:10-13

10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

11"Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

13Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."