Hungering?
Not hungering for knowledge of the brainy kind. Not hungering after an experience. Not even hungering after spiritual growth, whatever we might assume that is.
One can stoke an appetite of yearning for the finest of things. But if the very finest of things is missing or drops to even second place on our craving list, we come up short. Like the man who climbs his ladder of success only to discover the ladder has been leaning against the wrong wall.
The relentless hungering after a lesser thing, i.e. anything other than our Lord’s thing, carries the person to one of at least two places.
(A) The place of pride (I am one of those few select souls following hard after the ‘right path’. . . so take note!). Comparing his actions and behaviors to others, he views his spiritual maturity as deeper, more advanced. To this person good performing is everything.
(B) The place of despondence (Why did I ever buy into the notion that satisfaction and contentment were in reach, since all my efforts following this Christian trail have failed at both).
Any time we set out on our own to achieve a thing that can only be obtained by God and his means, we come up short. Disappointed. Frustrated. Disillusioned. Not fun places to be.
Let us picture this. A young lady grows up in a religious tradition where she routinely hears something like, “You must please God every day or you might not make it to heaven”. Or, “Here is a list of things in the Bible you had better be working on if you want to be a real worth-your-salt Christian.” Along the way the girl reads that Jesus calls disciples to follow him.
“I do want to be acceptable to God when I die”, she muses. “I want to be a good Christian. I will do my best to obey God and follow Jesus.”
In time this sincere soul simply grows weary in the trying. Trying to measure up. Day after day, trying and trying. Eventually throwing in the towel.
In the one kept afloat by human pride the bubble bursts. For the other, exhausted and spent in the tryings, all-out collapse awaits.
But then at the last moment, good news!
A lifeline floats our way straight off a New Testament page. Our weary soul rallies at the alluring words from the pen of a seasoned tentmaker,
But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.*
©2023 Jerry Lout *I Cor 13:31 NLT
A wonderful reminder to hunger after God, God’s priorities, God’s values, and God’s pleasure.
I doubt the aim can hardly get more succinctly distilled than what you’ve voiced here. Thanks, Chip!
I’m loving the desire for ‘hope’ that this post moves toward. And that last line, underscoring the truth, “But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.”
Thank you so much, RJ. I’ve been learning that last lines for a writer may often not percolate until the body of a piece, the work-in-progress, is rounding the home stretch!