To read Part One, click here.
God made you hungry! God made you thirsty! Hunger and thirst are built in! Appetite, hunger and thirst are ingrained in every human being ... it's God's plan for you to kick and scream because of your hunger and thirst!
For a moment, imagine a mom. Most moms and dads have a deep desire, an appetite, a hunger, and a built-in thirst to have, to love, to know and to raise a baby. The only thing that satisfies this appetite is for parents to conceive or adopt a child and become the proud, loving mother and father their heart desired!
In God's great design, a husband and wife have this amazing ability to procreate! When a woman becomes pregnant, this growing baby inside a mother's womb is now completely dependant on the love, care and nurture that mother provides. Most pregnant moms take special care to protect their unborn baby by taking prenatal vitamins, eating a healthy diet, cutting out toxic foods and drugs, getting plenty of rest and other acts of love that give that baby the best possible chance of being born normal, healthy and whole.
After nine months, when these bundles of joy arrive with an appetite! Mother, fathers, doctors, midwives fully expect that newborn baby to have an instinct for eating. Babies come out of the womb hungry and thirsty! It's miraculous to think that a newborn baby instantly "knows" how to root and suck. The rooting instinct is built in ... somehow, that little baby only minutes old knows how to automatically turn their little heads towards food! They stretch their heads towards something that only the nursing mother can provide!
If that is not enough, this newborn also has a built in sucking instinct ... somehow this new arrival knows automatically know what to do with a breast or a bottle! Every new parents know that the early months of the babies life revolve around the infants demand to eat, sleep and mess a diaper! When that baby cries everyone in the house goes into motion—older sister tries to rock the baby, grandma tries to sing to the baby, brother finds the pacifier for the baby, dad jingles the rattle for the baby, but the baby is not satisfied until mother comes along to nurse that baby and quench their hunger and thirst!
If a baby was born without these rooting and sucking instincts we'd be concerned. We expect babies to be hungry and thirsty! We expect babies to cry and throw a "kiniption" fit when they are hungry. We expect babies to keep us up all hours of the day and night to satisfy their hunger and thirst. Anything less would be abnormal, right?
Have you ever noticed that newborn babies are hungry frequently? They need to eat every two hours! They don't need steak and potatoes, they just need two ounces of breast milk or formula every two hours and they will begin to grow and gain weight. As they grow they will require more ounces and their feeding times will get spaced out until they can start to take in cereal and solid food and eventually they'll be on a regular eating schedule with meat and potatoes! We anticipate their hunger and thirst to continue all the way through their toddler, preschool, elementary, junior high, high school and college years—even into adulthood and until they are old and gray! Hunger and thirst are a part of our built in survival and growth! It's in our DNA! To thrive we've got to eat!
When a person is "born again" they become a "spiritual baby." We expect them to have a spiritual appetite, to be hungry and thirty! We expect newborn Christians to be born again with the "rooting and sucking" instinct. A new believer should automatically turn their heads toward the Bible and receive the nourishment that only God and His Word can provide. We expect baby Christians to "suck" the milk of the Word.
"You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow into the fullness of your salvation. Cry out for this nourishment as a baby cries for milk, now that you have had a taste of the Lord's kindness." (1 Peter 2:2-3, NLT)
We expect baby Christians to be so hungry that they keep us "spiritual moms and dads" up day and night with hunger, questions. It's our job to give them "two ounces" at a time until they can eat "steak and potatoes". We expect newborn believers to cry and have a "hissy fit" when they are hungry. Anything less would be abnormal, right? To grow up into a healthy, balanced, reproducing Christian it is vital that a healthy, balanced spiritual diet be the standard bill of fare!
So, why is it that some Christians seem to have no appetite for God, meager hunger for His Word and very little thirst for prayer and worship? Is it possible that thousands of Christians are suffering from spiritual eating disorders? How do you know if you have a spiritual eating disorder? It's important that we understand spiritual eating disorders, so we'll tackle them one by one. Join us as we take a look at some of the common spiritual eating disorders.
To read Part Three, click here.
Copyright © 2007 Beth Jones Ministries All rights reserved.
