Hungry

I ate three Reese's Pieces for breakfast this morning.
Not three of those big Reese's cups.
No, three of those little Reese's-flavored M&M looking things.
Why?
Metabolism.
I knew I wasn't going to be able to have lunch until 2:00. So if I got my metabolism going by eating breakfast at 7:00, I would've been starving by the time I got to eat lunch. Instead, I didn't eat breakfast, which didn't jump-start my metabolism, so I could survive until my late lunch without my stomach howling at me. It worked.

See, the thing about humans is, once we start eating, we're bound to want more before long. Have you ever noticed that the more often you eat, the sooner you get hungry again? It's true. And not just physically.

I've started my days with just three Reese's Pieces worth of Jesus before.
Not even enough to be three of those big Reese's cups.
And what happens?
Spiritual metabolism.
When I don't start out consuming Him, I forget to hunger for Him as my day goes on. I don't jump-start my spiritual metabolism, so I think I can survive longer without Him.

But if I start out consuming Him as the Bread of Life and the Living Water, I'm bound to want more before long. I've noticed that the more often I take Him in, the sooner I'm hungry for Him again.

Wait--how does that work? In John 6:35, Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty." So why do I find myself hungry for Him over and over? I think there are some key words in that verse that answer that question. "He who comes to Me." When we come, we're no longer hungry. But we must come. When we don't, we're hungry, which drives us back to Him for more.

...unless we go so long without consuming Him that our metabolism shuts down and we forget that He is vital to our existence. Then we don't want to come. So we're not filled. And we waste away. We cannot subsist on a Reese's Pieces diet of Jesus.

We must keep coming. When we come, we're filled, which makes us hunger for Him even more. So we come again, and we're filled again, which makes us hunger for Him still more. The more we hunger, the more we come, and the more we're filled.

Stay hungry, my friends. And somehow in the world of our God that is so upside down from our own, by staying hungry, we stay filled.