This morning I read a report on the struggles of The Church and Christians in an area of India. They are trying to overcome social, political, religious and caste system limitations and persecutions. While reflection on these Christian’s struggles the the Lord spoke to me iand this passage in the Beatitudes came to me from Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” I started meditating on how I can help instill my church and others the DNA to desire and a hunger for sharing the Gospel.
As I meditated on this it struck me, “How do I instill a DNA of a hunger and thirst for Jesus into a community that has never experienced true hungered or thirst before?” This illustration worked great for Jesus in his context, because almost all of those he was speaking to knew in a nation occupied ny a Roman army and had experienced many time starvation and true hunger and thirst. It was part of their daily lives. They had experienced and knew the true desperation for something to eat or drink, like their life depended on it. How many reading this post have experienced long periods of true hunger and thirst and struggled to find enough food or drink to survive? I never have. Yes, on my mission trip to Southern Darfur there were days we did not eat because there was no food, and I was hungry and thirsty, but I knew it was temporary. I knew in a few weeks I would be flown out back to Kenya and eat my fill. And I have have fasted for many times for various lengths of days and was hungry but it was intentional, food was available around me if I chose to eat it. There was no desperation, life-threatening drive in me to seek out food and water. Again, most of those reading this letter, have never felt this true desperation in hunger and thirst. We do not know how to relate to it.
Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” But what would that mean if he was speaking to the crowd reading this post who were already blessed materialistically, have fridges and pantry’s full or food, and are satisfied? We in our comfort and materialism are already satisfied! We don’t know how hunger and thirst for food, so we sure don’t know how to hunger and thirst for Jesus! And then to go another step further and to hunger and thirst for others to know Jesus. We lack true desperation and true urgency.
So How do I lead and instill a hunger and thirst for Jesus in a community that has never hungered and thirsted? I try to lead them to experience the authentic Jesus. Lead them into a place where through the interaction of the Holy Spirit with their Spirit they will Like Saul, have a Road to Damascus experience and encounter Jesus. That experienced changed the identity of Saul to Paul. It is actual holy, paradigm shattering, identity changing encounters with Jesus that create a hunger and a thirst for more of him. More Jesus, more righteousness, more of a heart that breaks for the lost, more desperation share our faith with unbelievers. Where they “Taste and see that the LORD is good!” (Psalm 34:8) and experience “Our God is a consuming fire. (12:29). Wherethey hear Jesus and experience Jesus calling out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” (John 7:37-38)
Leading people to experience the actual, living Jesus in a real tangible way so that the good news of Christ is not just “The Gospel story” but “their Gospel story” is my calling. And the calling of everyone of you who have “tasted and seen that the Lord is good.”
My family, I pray as we continue in our long Labor Day weekend, you take time to meditate as I am doing on “What do I hunger and thirst for? How do I increase to the point of desperation my hunger and thirst for Jesus and the lost? And then just don’t meditate on it, but actually go, spend some time in that hunger sharing the bread of life with others on your day off, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
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