I came home the other day to the cry of, ‘…I’m starving… I think I’m going to die…’ as one of our children laid themselves out on the floor in mock desperation. I wasn’t immediately too alarmed at this situation as I’ve become accustomed to melodrama like this in our home. This declaration and demonstration did however prompt me to spend some time thinking about the posture and hunger of my own life. Not for food, a quick glance will tell you I’m not starving to death!, but for Jesus.
I began to wonder if I could honestly make such a declaration about Jesus as I lay prostrate before my Heavenly Father? Do I live with a desperate hunger for more of Jesus that compels me to pursue Him while at the same time surrendering more of myself or, am I too easily satisfied with my current experience with Jesus and the expression of His Kingdom? This line of questioning quickly brought me to the place of wondering not only whether I could make such a declaration but, in fact whether I SHOULD. Should this be the place and posture of my life? Should this be the posture of all Kingdom citizens? I found the latter questions much easier to answer, although there answers clearly held implications for my life that only produced more questions (are we having fun yet?).
In John 15 Jesus uses the analogy of a vine and its branches to show us the extent of our ‘connection’ to Himself. In the same way that a branch is only healthy and fruitful as it constantly draws nourishment and life from the vine, we are to constantly be drawing our nourishment and life from Jesus, our Vine. In the vine and branch analogy, and by implication our lives, there must never come a point where we become satisfied and stop drawing more of His (the Vine) life into our own. The moment a branch stops drawing nourishment is the moment it begins to die and the same is true for us. We must actively avoid the trap of becoming satisfied with our current experience with Jesus and continually draw more of His life into our own.
There is so much more that we have yet to experience in our relationship with Jesus that we must not slow up in our pursuit of Him. There are expressions of His grace and power that we have not yet seen that are waiting to be demonstrated in, and through, our lives. The prevalence of sin and its affects in our world will on be thwarted by a people who are absolutely hungry for more of Jesus and willing to live in a posture of desperation without being in despair.
It is my prayer that Holy Spirit would awaken within all of us a continually increasing hunger for more of Jesus with each passing moment and that we would gladly surrender our lives as we draw more of His life into our own.
1 comment:
I believe that you have hit on one of the most prevalent problems in North American society today, and personally for me also. SELF SUFFICIENCY Our need for God (spiritual) is limited by our perceived lack of needs (physical). It is a sad fact that often it takes adversity to drive us to recognize our need for God.
Like Scott, I too need a divine revelation of my need for God in my everyday life.
How about you?
LORD, HELP US ALL TO SEE BOTH HOW MUCH YOU ARE ALREADY DOING FOR US, THAT WE THINK WE ARE DOING OURSELVES, AND HOW MUCH MORE YOU WANT TO DO IN US AND THORUGH US, IF WE WOULD JUST LISTEN TO YOU, AMEN
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