Get Up An Appetite

“So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech. Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness. –  1 Peter 2:1-3.

While the word “appetite” will always mean different things to different people, for the Christian it can be defined as “a strong desire or urge.” Americans pursue endless pleasure, seek distraction in entertainment, buy things to gain status or to become more attractive, and worship sex. Our appetites can dictate the direction of our lives. But for the Christian, the hunger for anything besides God can be an enemy. Our hunger for God — and him alone — is the only thing that will give us a home run life.

How is your appetite for God? How do we better express, or even increase, our soul’s appetite for God?

In John 7:37-39, Jesus is at a festival. On the last day of the festival, Jesus stood up and said, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.” Jesus was explaining to people how they could satisfy the hunger and thirst in their bellies. People had come to the festival expecting to eat until they were full and content. But when their appetite for food was satisfied, a longing remained.

The same is true in our lives when we are so focused on our wants and cravings. Even when we have obtained what we wanted, an emptiness remains. We need an appetite for godliness. Human beings yearn to know God. The impulse to worship is universal. The desire for meaning and purpose in life, to love and be loved, is put in each one of us by God. One does not have to be Christian, to hunger for God. He created us to know Him, to love Him, to serve Him. But when sin entered the world, the hunger for God and good, was re-directed towards other gods, towards appetites and cravings that could never really satisfy.

We want to really know Him, to really have a mature faith that is in lockstep with the Spirit. We want to have the Spirit in us, so that we are able to draw on His wisdom when faced with the appetites of this world.   

Discussion Question:

1. The appetite you feed is the appetite that grows in your life. Agree or disagree and why?
2. Is there anything hampering your appetite for God? 
3. What are practical ways you can feed the spiritual appetite in your life?