1.10.2012

blessed are those who hunger...


I want to live a sold out kind of life. I want to look like the disciples, who were willing to give up all that they knew to follow the One who promised the Truth. I want to trust Jesus, even when He calls me to dark places. I want to live a life that is set apart. I want to be okay with standing out in a crowd.

But truth is… most of the time I am too distracted by life to really be sold out. I am too distracted by worry, or fear, or hobbies, or work, or family, or… you get the idea.

And when I wake up and look around and find myself wallowing in complacency, I get so disappointed. 

How could I be striving so strongly one week, and so blinded the next?  But really, it's easy to do, isn’t it? Bible reading becomes routine, going to church becomes habit, and spiritually you find yourself nodding off.  I guess that’s where I found myself a couple of weeks ago. It felt as though I was standing amongst the crowd of on-lookers rather than sitting at the Rabbi’s feet… and I was so disappointed in myself. Surely our Father was disappointed too. I trip up so often. I'm so far from where I desire to be in Him. I forget the power and authority that I have through Him. I look to the world rather than His heart...

And then, our beautiful, gracious, loving Father whispered the most beautiful thing to me…

“Becky, I love your hunger”…

He wasn’t disappointed that I failed. He wasn’t angered that I grew sleepy. He wasn’t frustrated with me.  He was ravished by one who sincerely wants more than that.  Who looks around and realizes that this is not enough. Who is not satisfied with the status quo.  

I'm not suggesting that it's okay to grow complacent (or that I have it all figured out!)... I'm saying that perhaps that awakening to our complacency does not necessarily mean we have lost all traction and are skidding down the side of the mountain we have been climbing... rather for those who awaken dissatisfied, it could mean that we have found ourselves on a plateau, or camping out for a bit on the side of the Holy Hill.  As a friend and I were discussing this very topic, it occurred to me that this place she is in, which feels very lukewarm to her now, is the very place she was striving for when she first became a Christian. But having arrived there, and being there for a while, her spirit is awakening to the truth that there is more. There is always more. And she is hungering after that more. 

If you are awakening to the more... hungering after that more...God says "I love your hunger"...

I share this to encourage your spirit, just as mine was nourished by those sweet words whispered directly to my heart. God is not mad at you. If you are not all that you think He desires you to be, don’t beat yourself up about it… He is enthralled that your heart desires more!  He is ravished by you. He is ravished by your hunger.  He isn’t disappointed that you aren’t there yet… He is thrilled that THERE is the place you desire to go.

You see, that point of dissatisfaction is a demonstration of your hunger.  And Jesus loves hungry people! Nestled amongst eight blessed-are’s in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount we find this one…

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” [Matthew 5:6]

It doesn’t say “Blessed are the righteous…”

It says “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousnenss…”

Sold out people are hungry. They are hungry for righteousness. They are hungry for Jesus, the giver of righteousness.  They are hungry for MORE.

Even when they stand amongst crowds who are satisfied with church on Sunday. Even when they live with people who have just “enough” Jesus.  Even when everyone else is seems okay with living with one foot in the world and one foot in the church… they hunger and thirst for MORE.

There are many characteristics of the sold out life. But I think that sort of lifestyle has to start here… with the hunger. Sold out people are always hungry.

Although Jesus is enough… yes, He is MORE than enough… one can never have enough Jesus. He is big beyond our wildest imaginings, the Word through which all of creation came to be… and no matter how much of Him you know, or have experienced… there is always more.

And sold out people desire the more.

Even in those seasons of apparent complacency, there is a holy dissatisfaction growing inside… an uneasiness that eventually overflows into conviction. So, strapping boots back on, the sold out look to the Holy Hill and march on. Unsatisfied with anything less than the indwelling of the Living God. Unsatisfied with anything less than His presence. Unsatisfied with anything less than becoming that which He imagined you to be as He formed you in your mother’s womb.

You are hungry for more.  You wouldn't have read this far if you weren’t. This is the first step... this is the foundation for living a sold out life.  It has to start with a desire for more. A hunger and a thirst for righteousness... for they will be filled. He loves your hunger!

Father, stir within us even tonight a desire for more of you. Wake us up from our complacency, from our place in the crowd. Open our eyes to the person you created us to be, and put the striving in our hearts to seek after that with all that we have. Father make us a people willing to live dangerously for you... a people who trust you ENOUGH no matter what the cost. Cause us to hunger and thirst for your righteousness, for your Son, for your Spirit... Thank you Father for your grace, your mercy, your love. Thank you for being a Father who is ravished by us... and help us to walk in that identity...





1 comment:

beautyintheashes said...

Needed this today. Thanks!