A Hunger that Leads to Filling

Free to Be the Me God Wants
Part VI: Hunger

Got the munchies the other night. I opened the refrigerator and poked at the leftovers. I started to grab an orange from the bottom shelf, then decided I needed something hot. Soup would be nice. Nope. That would dirty dishes. So I settled for two slices of bread and butter.
Sometimes, I have specific cravings. Like the author, I scream, Hand Over the Chocolate and No One Will Get Hurt. And if I try to substitute something besides what I crave, I end up devouring half the cupboard’s contents and still feel wanting.

Cravings are a kind of hunger.

Hunger is defined as an uncomfortable feeling associated with prolonged deprivation. When we need nutrition, the body reacts. Some will raid the kitchen while others will go out to the hen house and hatchet a solution. How we satiate will depend upon our resources, culture, and degree of perceived deprivation.

People can hunger out of boredom or even habit.

Hunger generally promotes action. The greater the hunger, the more intense the desire to satiate. But first, we must recognize that we are hungry. Sometimes we are so filled with non nutrients the brain fails to hear the body’s cry for sustenance.

Perhaps this acceptance of mediocrity, the lack of desire for something better, spills into our spiritual lives as well. We starve spiritually because we don’t hunger for the things of God.
Physical starvation occurs when the body experiences a total lack of necessary nutrients. Amazingly, starvation can still occur though a person consumes a lot of food. If the body does not receive sufficient vitamins and minerals to sustain itself, life ceases. Nutritional deprivation causes fatigue and apathy over time. The starving person becomes disinterested in his surroundings.

Could it be that the same is true of spiritual starvation? Do we stuff ourselves with pleasure and selfish pursuits and leave no room for the meat of God’s Grace? Have we fooled ourselves into thinking we are satisfied and drifted into apathy because we are spiritually malnourished? Have we become content with our discontent? If we don’t feel the pangs, how then will we ever seek the remedy?

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled”

(Matthew 5:6).