Jesus encouraged us to “be careful how we hear.” One way to combat this is to be a hungry hearer. Being hungry for God should be a natural state for every believer. It starts immediately after coming into real faith. Listen to Peter’s words,

Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.” 1 Peter 2:2

A healthy baby instinctively hungers for milk and demands it often. Late night feedings are a common occurrence for parents. If that baby does not feed on milk, it will quickly become malnourished. Its development will be diminished.

There is nothing wrong with a young believer being hungry. Staying hungry and becoming malnourished is another issue. Hunger for the things of God and a desire to feed yourself with His Word is evidence of conversion and spiritual vitality.  No matter where a child of God grows in spiritual development or stages of growth, there should be a hunger for God and His word.

A stay-at-home mom went to a PTA meeting one night. While she was gone, her husband and oldest daughter decided they would clean the kitchen for mom and surprise her when she got home. Well, they washed all the dishes, put away the pots and pans, cleaned the stove and counter-tops — the kitchen was spotless…

Later than night, mom came home from the meeting… she walked into the kitchen and fixed herself something to drink and then went into the den to watch TV with her family… but she never said a word about the kitchen being cleaned.

Finally, her husband said, “Honey, did you notice the clean kitchen?”

“I did,” she said

“Well, you’re not going to say thank you or anything?”

She said, “Why should I? It’s a thankless job, isn’t it?”

Assuring that you eat and drink your spiritual food is your job. No one is going to know whether you have fed yourself, except you. It is one of those “secret closet” issues like prayer. No need to post on Facebook every time you feed yourself. No one really cares and no one is going to pat you on the back. Right?

Let me also say you are not always going to experience “warm fuzzies”  every time you meet with God. Yes, infants and little children get all excited at meal time. Parents know to make their feeding time fun. Eventually, the fun and games end and a child learns to fed themselves. Some believers never learn to shift from adolescence into adulthood. If you don’t believe me, look at church life. We coddle and coddle young people. As they shift from teens to adults, the dropout rate is staggering. No need to go into all this right now, except to say … feed the need! Keep yourself hungry and keep yourself fed. It is a good thing!

Blessings,

Pastor