The Theology of Calvin . . . and Hobbes (Stories)

 

The Theology of Calvin . . . and Hobbes (Mothers)

 

Seven Critical Challenges for Living in This World (A Study of I Peter 2): Got Hunger?

Some of you are aware that I’ve been engaged in a daily Bible reading program with my friend Frank in New Jersey for a couple of years or so. We choose a book of the Bible and read the same chapter each day for a week — then move on to the next chapter after that. Our procedure is quite simple and is explained here.

Well, I’ve started a small group of four men who are doing this kind of daily Bible reading and we’ve worked our way through Philippians and I Timothy, and are now going through I Peter. We drop each other a short email on Sunday about something we’ve learned in our reading together.

In reading through I Peter 2, I believe there are seven critical challenges that Peter gives us that are particularly relevant for us right now in our world. Here’s the second —

The Christian life is not just getting rid of things, saying “no!” to sin. The Christian life is positive and educates us on what to pursue, long for, EAT! Here we are challenged at a level most (men, especially) appreciate — what we eat. We are to crave “pure spiritual milk.”

Your local grocery store understands a thing or two about craving. They are strategic in placing the right sweets just before the check-out counter. Impulse buying + cravings = profits! We believers are to crave — we are to long for that milk that helps us grow.

In fact, Peter gives us the reason for our craving — “that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” God wants us to grow. And spiritual babies need pure spiritual milk.

Peter also gives us the justification for our craving — “now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.” God’s goodness ought to motivate us to crave what would be most beneficial to our becoming like Christ!

Today’s Challenge: When it comes to your spiritual diet, do you crave God’s pure spiritual milk? If not, why not? Are you satisfying your godly hunger with this world’s junk food?

 

Hungry?

Hungry? Not for worms, of course. But for the Word of God? What are you doing to feed and encourage your spiritual appetite?

 

The Theology of Calvin . . . and Hobbes (Hungry?)

Hungry? I know the cartoon is about monsters under the bed. But it got me to thinking — am I HUNGRY? I mean really hungry for what matters? I have no problem — even at age 70 — for satisfying my hunger pains with a handful of M&M’s or a (small) bowl of ice cream. But what about real spiritual hunger? Am I satisfied with just knowing the Lord enough? Do I pursue a deeper connection with Him and the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit? What does your hunger meter look like? On empty? or moving toward the side of longing to grow in the things of God? [I don’t think we’ll ever have to worry about the last sections of being “STUFFED,” “BLOATED,” or “NAUSEOUS”!]

 

“I’m So Hungry!” (Time for a Great Commercial)

This is a great video!  It raises the question, what are YOU hungry for?  At my advanced age, my appetite sometimes gets me into trouble.  I can eat too much.  I can eat the wrong things.  I can fail to hide my bag of M&M’s — and my wife finds them!

But what about my spiritual hunger?  Do I find myself thirsting and hungering for the Lord every day?  Or, do I feed myself on the junkfood of the world and think that I am full?  You?

 

Time for a Great Quote! (Piper on what dulls our appetite for heaven)

“The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie.
It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for
heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not
the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we
drink in every night.”
― John Piper, Hunger for God

 

Time for a Great Quote! (John Piper on a thirst and hunger for God)

“If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God,it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.”
― John Piper, A Hunger For God

 

How Hungry Are You?

This video is a bit juvenile, but is it not the case that we are often the victims of our own appetites?

How do you develop an appetite for the things of God?

As a guy, I think a lot about food.  I really do.  My wife says I can be in the middle of one meal and I start asking about the next meal.  [I do harbor the thought that she is trying to starve me, but the evidence of such a conspiracy is greatly lacking.  She could easily say to me, “You know. It just dawned on my that there are 30 pounds of you that I’m not legally married to!”]
We talk about, think about, what’s important to us.  Job says, “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.” (2312)  Do I value and pursue God’s Word that seriously?
The Psalmist has much to say about becoming hungry for the Lord.  Ever the realist, the Psalmist says that God satisfies the longing soul.  And he fills the hungry soul.  (107:9) It is quite possible to cover-over our hunger with the junk food of this world, don’t you think?
God is honored by our hunger for Him, and prepares a city for those who are hungry for Him to inhabit (Ps. 107:36).
Proverbs says that “the full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” (27:7).  One of my fears in life is making myself full with things other than the Lord.
Of Jesus it is said in Luke that He fills the hungry with good things, and the rich he sends away empty (1:53).  How sad to think one is rich when one is actually empty.
I know that I need to learn the truth which Paul illustrates when he says, “I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” (Phil. 4:12).

Questions:

1.  What steps do you take to increase your appetite for God and the things of God?

2.  What junk food (both literal and figurative) could you profitably get rid of for your own spiritual health?

 

GOT HUNGER?

This commercial cracks me up!  Do you sometimes find yourself a slave to your own hunger?  Do your appetites control you?

Our culture teaches us to indulge all our passions, to seek to satisfy all our desires, to assuage our appetites.

Christianity teaches us to be men and women of great passion and appetites, but for those things that honor Him!

Questions:

1.  How’s your hunger level for knowing God?  What are you doing about it?

2.  How can we encourage each other to develop more of a hunger for knowing the Lord?