Hunger: The Endless Longing for MoreSample

Hunger as the Hallmark of Our Faith

I’m sure you can name the people you always look forward to spending time with. We’re not supposed to do life alone. We are wired for connection because we’re made in the image of a relational God. God’s chief intention for creating us was fellowship. He wanted us to know Him, become like Him, and reveal His glory to the world. Of course, humankind’s fall into sin destroyed the perfect fellowship God designed us to enjoy with Him, but God already had a plan in place: Jesus.

You probably have stories to tell of friends or family members who have come to know Jesus and whose lives have been radically transformed by a desire to spend time with God. You’ll likely have experienced this too. Fellowship with God is the necessary response of a person who claims to hunger for more of God. Put another way: our hunger for fellowship with God – spending time in prayer, worship, and His Word – is the essence of our faith. David expressed it this way: ‘One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.’ (Psalm 27:4)

Every human has a natural hunger for food because it provides sustenance and nutrients that keep the body healthy. Spiritually, we have in us a natural hunger for God, satisfied by spending quality and quantity time in prayer and Bible study. David lived entirely for God. His single-minded passion is the reason he is described as ‘a man after God’s own heart’ (Acts 13:22). Imagine the impact our lives would have if we lived with the kind of zeal for God we see in David’s life. Imagine how we might change the world around us if we kept alight the flame of our love for God, slaying distractions and focusing single-mindedly on Jesus.

Luke 10 gives an account of two sisters, Mary and Martha, hosting Jesus in their home. Mary sits at Jesus’ feet while Martha busies herself, seeing to His physical needs. In Luke 10:41-42, Jesus says, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’ Jesus isn’t reprimanding Martha so much as He’s inviting her into His presence. He’s inviting you too. May you become aware of a growing hunger to know God more intimately. May you be inspired to carve out time in God’s presence, and may He transform you, more and more, into His likeness so that others will begin to hunger for Him too.

This plan was adapted from the series, Hunger: The Endless Longing for More, on RightNow Media. To find out more, visit: https://www.rightnowmedia.org/af/get-access