Than a Stuffed and Complacent "Maybe"
God has noticed that the repetitive falsehoods are fading away, and He's waiting for them to be replaced by a new vocabulary of honesty: "No, I am not all right, and everything isn't fine-I'm hungry!
On rare occasions, instinctive human behavior appears to faintly resemble divine behavior. For instance, when was the last time you saw a flock of adults rush toward another adult to coo, ooh, and ah, and make a big fuss over them? When was the last time you saw this happen when a baby was brought into a room?
Is it wrong to imply that Christians should remain babies in some way?
Is it possible or desirable to somehow "grow up" in Christ while retaining a baby's total dependence and crying need for Him? (Are you interested?)
Perhaps you noticed that there is something about childlike dependency, trust, and urgent need in the human heart that captures the heart of Divinity. Jesus had His "little ones" in mind when He issued some of the New Testament's strongest and most severe warnings about misuse and abuse. He was talking about more than natural babies and toddlers-He was referring to everyone, young and old, who cried out to Him with juvenile cries of desperation and dependency.
Are you convicted that His words apply to you? Why or why not?
God loves us all without showing partiality; but He does extend that extra care and protection found in His presence to those who openly demonstrate their urgent need for Him.
Hungry babies just aren't intimidated by the people around them.
They put their total focus and energy on their hunger and the
source of their satisfaction. At the height of their hunger, they
make no room for distractions of any kind.
In contrast, many Christians do their best to demonstrate their independence and self-sufficiency in public worship gatherings. They would never think of "going forward" in a public invitation for prayer. Such a transparent admission of need is unacceptable because it would reveal politically incorrect cracks in their carefully cultivated facade of Christian perfection. In their determined effort not to attract any attention to their need, they've also managed to totally lose God's interest and attention!
Where do you fit in this picture? Are you a "bold and hungry
baby" in His presence or a "stuffed and complacent maybe"
who approaches worship on a whim, willing to worship Him
as long as you feel like it?
Some of us have "faked fullness" for most of our Christian lives.
Whether in a church or on the job, we live with a "pasted-on smile,"
and we refuse to leave home without it. The truth is that more
and more Christian "fakers of fullness" are saying, "I've had
enough of that." Their inner hunger is beginning to get the best of
them, and God is beginning to get interested once again.
Have you had enough? Is your most inner hunger level
beginning to get the best of you?
Remember Where You've Been, But Always Dare to Dream
Have you noticed that true hunger has an uncanny ability to make us genuinely real and brutally honest? Just the mention of the word hunger recalls the mental picture of a hungry baby who thinks nothing of disrupting a church service to display his hunger.
1. When you think of the word hunger, what image fills your mind?
2. Have you ever been hungry-hungry to the point of desperation or even starvation? Do you think spiritual hunger can reach the same desperation point?
3. Recall times of spiritual hunger in your life (perhaps it is more than a mere memory-you
may be desperately hungry for him now?. What are you prepared to do about it?
Matthew 11:28-30, in which Jesus calls to Himself everyone who is weary and overloaded.
28. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
Lord, I'm so hungry for You that I've dropped every facade of fakery I possessed. I don't care who knows how desperate I am-I need You!
