Are You Spoiling Your Appetite?

Monday, January 30, 2006

Did your mother ever tell you, "Now, don't eat that right before dinner. You'll spoil your appetite." Of course she did; every mother says it hundreds of times while her children are growing up. I want to ask you: What's spoiling your appetite?

Of course, I'm talking about your spiritual appetite. Just as we can spoil our appetite for the right kind of food by filling up on junk food, we can also spoil our appetite for God and the things of God by filling up on the world's junk food. And oh my, it is so easy to do that.

Now, just think what happens when your children spoil their appetite by eating sweets and snacks before dinner. They are satisfied with the junk food and don't have room for the nourishing food you've prepared–right? And you know they will be much better off eating that nourishing, well-balanced meal you are cooking than filling up on the junk.

Well, the same is true in our spiritual lives. As children of God, we often spoil our appetites for God with things that are not good for us, and that keep us from the spiritual food which we really need. Jesus told us that He was the bread of life and anyone who comes to Him would never go hungry. (John 6:35). He told us that He had water to give us which would be a like a spring of water welling up inside us to eternal life, and we would never thirst again (John 4:13 -14).

In other words, He has a table prepared for us with good, nourishing food and water. And we are invited to eat at His table. The Psalmist said, "O taste and see that the Lord is good." Have you tasted the Lord's table prepared for you lately? Do you have a hunger for God–an appetite that can only be satisfied by Him and His Word?

What are some symptoms of a hunger for God? When you're hungry for God, it is obvious by the way you talk and how you spend your time, money and energy. Reading your Bible and going to church are not hard to do. P ray er is natural and important. Your radio dial is often on the Christian station because it feeds your hungry soul. The books you read are nourishing things that satisfy that heart hunger for God. You choose friends who talk about the Lord and encourage you in your quest for God. Your conversations are edifying and often revolve around things of God.

Are you hungry for God? Do people around you know that more than anything else you want to know God and the power of his resurrection in your life? If not, perhaps it's because you're spoiling your appetite with the world's junk food.

Program Transcript, The Christian Working Woman, Mary Welchel.