Are You Spiritually Hungry?

I’m amazed at how I can go from being not hungry at all to starving four minutes later. On Thanksgiving Day, for example, I can hardly wait for the big meal. And when the time for it finally comes, I eat too fast and too much.

The Bible talks about a different kind of hunger—a spiritual hunger. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6 NKJV). A blessed or happy person will passionately desire a righteous life.

God wants us to have a desperate hunger for righteousness, a real passion for spiritual things. The writer of Psalm 42 described it this way: “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (verses 1–2 NKJV).

When the prodigal son was hungry, the Bible tells us that he turned to his father: “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father’” (Luke 15:17–18 NKJV).

In the same way, only God can satisfy the spiritual thirst deep within our souls. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:35 NKJV).

Only God can satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst. Do you starve for a holy life? Do you hunger for the best that God has in store for you?

Here’s a little secret you need to know: If you live for happiness, you’ll never find it. But if you instead channel your energy into being holy, you’ll be happy. Holy people are happy people because happiness is a fringe benefit of holiness.