Sunday, November 27, 2016

Follow Your Hunger by Francis Frangipane


The Ministries of Francis Frangipane

Follow Your Hunger
(En EspaƱol)

Today too many Christians have lost their hunger for God. Instead of coming into the Lord's presence hungry for more of His fullness, our thoughts are held hostage to worldly pursuits and fleshly distractions. At best, we are merely curious about spiritual realities, but not truly hungry.

Let me tell you a story that illustrates what I mean. We had a little dog named Sophie. Sophie loved people food. To her, eating people food was the culinary equivalent of entering the Kingdom of God. She loved our food. She even had a Bible verse that she claimed in faith: "Even the dogs feed on the crumbs" (Matt. 15:27). 

When my wife and I shared a meal, Sophie would sit at our feet, squint her eyes, and stare at us (she thought squinting made her cuter). Any food that fell to the floor instantly vanished into her mouth. No matter how much of her food she had already eaten, she was always hungry for ours. 

Our home had a small, fenced-in yard outside our porch where Sophie played. Although the fence surrounded the area, there were gaps where the pickets didn't quite reach to the ground. If Sophie wanted, she actually could squeeze under the fence and get out, but she normally had no reason to try. Occasionally she would get curious and go as far as the gate and stand there a while and look out, but she didn't leave the yard. 

One day, though, my wife decided to feed a few slices of stale bread to the birds that nested on the other side of the fence. When Sophie went out an hour later, she immediately noticed a human food smell in the air, which she tracked to the bread. In less than a heartbeat she found a little gap under the picket fence, flattened herself to the ground, and then shimmied through the fence to the bread on the other side. It was gone in less than a minute. 

My point is this: hunger will take you where mere curiosity would never go. 

My friend, God is looking for hungry people. Blessed are they who hunger. He is seeking people who are truly seeking Him. Indeed, He has bread from Heaven for us, and it is eternally satisfying. We cannot afford to settle into the routine of a fenced-in reality, not when God has eternal food prepared for us. Let us, therefore, follow our hunger as we pursue the presence of God.

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