HUNGRY AND THIRSTY HEARTS (2)

“I AM the BREAD of LIFE. He who comes to Me shall never HUNGER, and he who believes in Me shall never THIRST” – John 6:35b

Blessed Hearts are HUNGRY and THIRSTY HEARTS – first and foremost for GOD Himself: “And Jesus said to them, “I AM the BREAD of LIFE. He who comes to Me shall never HUNGER, and he who believes in Me shall never THIRST” (Jh.6:35b). He repeats in verse 48: “I am the BREAD of LIFE.” Also, He says, “If anyone THIRSTS, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (Jh.7:37b-38). All of these imply that ultimately, our deepest needs can only be satisfied in GOD: the Father, the Son – the Bread of Life, and the Holy Spirit – the Dispenser of the Water of Life. Deeper than our body and soul needs is the yearning for a personal, profound relationship that’s at the core of our spiritual needs.

Our Lord Jesus Christ invites us to hunger and thirst for intimate communion with the Triune God, to satisfy the earnest longings of our souls. Oswald Chambers wrote: “There is only One Being who can satisfy the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ”! It seems like there is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every human being which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, through His Son Jesus Christ. God is a Spirit and He is the only One who can satisfy the spiritual hunger of humanity! God doesn’t ask us to deny our legitimate desires for intimacy, beauty, entertainment, knowledge, and adventure in the world. But we’ll ultimately discover that a journey into Him makes every other passion or adventure drab and dull.

Interestingly, appetite has always been at the core of Man’s dealings with God! In the beginning, humans were created in perfect harmony, to bring pleasure and glory to God. But Man’s first sin was committed through eating, resulting in death and separation from God (Gen.3:6-12). Adam and Eve disobeyed God – not by lying, stealing, or killing – but in a simple act of eating, which forever changed the course of human history. In between hunger and eating is APPETITE, which determines the direction of our lives. Our physical hunger for worldly, perishable things – the cravings of our stomachs and the passionate desire for possessions or power – should point us to a higher, deeper level of spiritual hunger for godly, eternal matters – craving and longing of our spirits for God!

Compounding the fall is humanity’s spiritual blindness. Being alienated from God, men’s hearts and minds are blinded by earthly pleasures and worldly values (Eph.4:18; 2Cor.4:4; 1Jh.2:11). This dire spiritual condition warrants an ultimate need for the Saviour, the Son of Man, who came as the Solution to rescue humankind. Whereas no one and nothing in this world can give us the utmost and true satisfaction, Jesus Christ promised that through Him, we can have peace with God and fulfilment in life.

There is no doubt about what Jesus hungered for during His ministry on earth: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (Jh.4:34). All of His life revolved around doing the Father’s Will. He is the perfect Model of a life devoted to God – in hunger and thirst for God! As the “the Bread of Life” He is the Divine Solution to our spiritual hunger (v.35).

In Christ, our hunger and thirst will be satisfied, not only on earth but also in the life to come (Lk.14:15). As we open our hearts to Jesus, receive Him as our Lord and Saviour, and abide in Him, we will ultimately enjoy the greatest honour to eat with Him and sit on His throne (Rev.3:20-21). Adam and Eve’s sinful desires to eat in disobedience are replaced with the holy invitation from the Son of Man to eat from the tree of life (Rev.2:7; 22:14). Our hunger and thirst can only be satiated by Jesus Christ – the Bread of Life.