Many people come to church Sunday after Sunday to be pacified. They want enough to make them feel like they’ve gotten something, only to discover all week long that they are still hungry. They look for this pacification in a service, song or sermon only to wise up to the hunger still within. Sure, they got something that gave them the impression that it was the real thing, but they soon realize that something else is still missing. They do not sense the nutritional value that they expected to be passed on to them.
Many people come to church Sunday after Sunday to be pacified.
As long as you are satisfied with pacifiers, you won’t cry out for the real thing. Unless you become like the baby who rejects pacification––the religious, ritualistic ceremony of going through the motions––you will never find the true-life nourishment that comes from knowing God experientially. The real question we’ve been asking all along is how hungry are you to know God? Because God feeds those who cry out in hunger for Him.
The real question we’ve been asking all along is how hungry are you to know God?
God invites each of us into a truly transformative process wherein He asks us to view life’s trials through the lens of His own personal fellowship, intimacy and purpose. That’s true nourishment. When you choose to do that, you will also experience His power to restore, revive and return the years that the locusts have stolen (Joel 2:25).
I recall a time when I had some serious ant hills on my front lawn. As these ants served their queen, they built mounds on my lawn, turning a once-green lawn into a place of foreign habitation. They were building their own kingdom on my lawn, so I needed to address their presence. If I didn’t...
Everybody needs someone to help them navigate through their life. Timothy had the best of mentors in the apostle Paul, who wrote two letters to encourage him in his life and ministry. During his missionary journeys, Paul had left Timothy behind in Ephesus so that he could grow the ministry that...
