Here’s a common phrase in our house: “I’m hungry.” We have a six-year-old son. We hear it all the time: “Lincoln, I’m hungry.” Even yesterday, I was out with him, and we were driving home, and he thought about this. “Dad, Chick-fil-A’s open. It’s not Sunday. I’m hungry.” Those chicken sandwiches sure are good, and he’s letting me know. He has a desire. He has a craving. He has a lust, if you will. He has a need, and he wants to fill it. He was longing for something.

Well, I want to ask you: When’s the last time your heart cried out, “I’m hungry for God?” Oh, I’m hungry for God, like a deer that longs for water, like a baby that desires milk, like a grown adult would want meat. When’s the last time you hungered and you thirsted after righteousness?

I remember the illustration of a young boy who was made to sit at the table. And his mother said, “I’m not letting you up till you finish your food.” He ate everything on the plate but six lima beans. He tried everything in the world to get those beans off of his plate. He tried to chew them, but they wouldn’t go down. He tried the trick that people do sometimes where they smash it and dice it up and spread it out, but he could not get the beans to disappear. He wasn’t going to eat them. And of course, we know lima beans are reserved for the Great Tribulation period. But this boy was at his table, stuck there for what could be eternity. Did he not eat the beans? Finally, his mother said, “You’ve got to eat the beans.” And the boy said, “I can’t. My bean belly is full.” She said, “Well, that’s a shame. I’ve got some chocolate cake.” He said, “Oh, I think I could have some chocolate cake.” She said, “I thought you said you’re full.” He said, “Well, my bean belly’s full, but my cake belly is running on empty.”

You see, here’s the thing: he wasn’t full. He just was hungering after the wrong thing. That’s the issue today with many Christians. We’re hungering, but not after God. We’re thirsting, but not after His righteousness. We’re so wrapped up and caught up in the things of this world. I want to challenge you: develop a hunger for God. Great revivals are the product of a hunger for God. Great churches arise from a heart that’s hungry for God. Soul winning is the byproduct of somebody who is hungry for God. And my, what we might see in our hour and in this generation if we had a hunger for God.

How do I cultivate that? I’ve got to get in the Word of God. I need to study my Bible. I need to make this Bible the desire of my life, the delight of my soul. I need to seek His face in prayer. I mean, set some time aside to fast and pray and pointedly go to the throne of grace. I need to do what I know is right already. Just obey God. Just do what I’m supposed to do. Live right. Be filled with the Spirit. Be a soul winner. But I need to do this to develop a hunger for God.

And I want to challenge you: are you hungry? When’s the last time your soul cried out, “I’m hungry for God?” Well, I hope this has been a help to your Christian life today.

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