"When I discovered your words, I devoured them.
They are my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name,
O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies."
Jeremiah 15:16
When I was in high school, my youth group participated in the 30 Hour Famine, an event sponsored by World Vision in order to raise money and awareness in the fight against poverty. We fasted for 30 hours together, met at church for the weekend, prayed, played and served our way through the hunger pangs.
And then we ate. A lot.
The funny thing was, after 6 hours or so into the fast, the hunger pangs wore off. The brain eventually got the message that food wasn't coming and stopped signaling the body's cravings. Late into the fast, something else set in:
Fatigue.
We, a group of 14-18 year old's whose energy never seemed to quit, ended up moping around like zombies...lethargic, listless and totally unmotivated to do anything.
One would think that the further away we got from having had a nutritious meal, the more ravenous our appetites would be. The opposite effect set in. The sensation of hunger was replaced by the slow-motion pace of exhaustion.
The same thing happens in our spiritual lives.
It's the principal of Metabolism.
When we indulge ourselves in God's Word, meeting with him daily through Bible reading and prayer; when we plug into Christian community, regularly attending church and home teams; when we take risks for God, obeying Him in our finances, work ethics, and relationships, our spiritual metabolisms are boosted.
We then know what it's like to sense God's active presence working in our lives; it nourishes our souls, breathing in much-needed life and energy.
And instead of pushing the plate of God's presence away, as if we've just finished a gluttonous Thanksgiving meal, we find ourselves craving more. More of Him. More of the Word. More time with His followers. More time on mission.
Unfortunately, the opposite effect of this principle of Metabolism works as well. When we begin to drift, compromising personal time with God and commitments to Christian community, a downward spiral begins. We lose our hunger pangs for Him, forgetting what it's like to experience the power of his presence. And the frightening thing is that we begin to believe we don't really need those former habits. Eventually, the only evidence of our decreased spiritual nutrition is exhaustion--emotional, spiritual and even physical exhaustion.
The principle of Metabolism will work for us, or against us--the choice is ours in how to employ it.
It takes time to jump-start our spiritual metabolisms--to "eat" more frequently when we're not necessarily hungry, but the results--a spirit that craves God's word, emotions that are centered on God's truth and not circumstances, and a life enriched by Christian community, are immeasurably worth the sacrifice of time and effort.
Let's amp up our spiritual metabolisms this fall by re-committing to the habits and disciplines that feed our souls. God is eager and ready to meet us at that place--
let's get hungry for more of Jesus.
What about you?
What habit do you need to re-commit to in order to start craving more of Jesus?
