am I hungry?

Our appetite is the source of our motivation. It's probably been a while since your pantry was empty, but think back to your college years or some period of near-poverty in your lifetime and you'll remember how significant appetite is. Your belly's grumbling, but there's nothing to eat except some saltine crackers and jelly. What is a person to do? Go out and earn some money, of course. Do a good job at work so you can keep your employment longer than one week and get a paycheck. Show up on time. Go the extra mile. Put forth some effort. If you don't, well, your belly's just gonna keep on growlin'.

Proverbs 16:26 says, "The laborer's appetite works for him; his hunger drives him on." Because a man is hungry for food, he'll keep on trying, He'll get up early and get a shower before work. He'll shine the boss's shoes, be kind to his jerky co-workers, put in the extra 1/2 hour to finish the project, and even skip lunch break so the deadline is not only met, but finished early so he can get that promotion. Why? Because he's hungry - for food, or a better car, or a bigger house, or maybe he's feeding hungry kids and his appetite is for providing for them.

But for what was Jesus' appetite? " 'My food,' said Jesus, 'is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work' " (John 4:34). He was hungry for God's will and work. Hungry to serve mankind. Hungry to redeem lost souls. Hungry to obey the Father. Hungry for the harvest He spoke of in the following verses. This hunger is what motivated Him. It's what got Him through long days of crowds and lines of sick people and persecution and ridicule and scorners and sinners and ultimately, it's what got Him through the pain and torture of the Cross. His appetite to do God's will worked for Him to be able to finish His Father's work.

So what am I hungry for today? As Jesus' follower, do I share His appetite for the lost, or is my appetite for something else? Is it hunger for God's will that motivates us to go the extra mile for Him? Are we shinning His shoes, being kind to the jerks who sit in the pews with us, putting in the overtime it takes to disciple our lost neighbors and co-workers and friends, skipping our lunches to read His Word and, and giving our best efforts and time to please and obey Him? Are we hungry, that hungry? So famished and desperate for Him and His will? If not, we should be. Maybe we need to cultivate a little more hunger, or the right type of hunger - Jesus' type.

Or maybe we just need to get up off our keesters and do something about our hunger. Proverbs also says, "The sluggard's craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work." (21:25). So even if we have the right appetite, and it's a healthy one, if we're too lazy, we end up just spiritually starving to death. Some of us need to get up and get moving, using diligence and our appetite to actually accomplish something for the Lord (see Proverbs 13:4).

There's a worship song that I used to sing in church that goes, "If my food is to do your will, then I'm hungry, still hungry." I pray that God will make us hungry. That he will stir up in our spiritual bellies a rumbling that will not be satisfied until we are diligently, perseveringly, desperately laboring to do the work of soul harvesting. I pray that for me. And I pray it for you too.