Perspectives

How hungry are you?

By Seth Carter
Posted 3/11/21

There’s too much to do and not enough time.” “A day late and a dollar short.” “I’m crazy busy.” 

You’ve probably muttered something like this …

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Perspectives

How hungry are you?

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There’s too much to do and not enough time.” “A day late and a dollar short.” “I’m crazy busy.” 

You’ve probably muttered something like this to yourself at some point, or spoken it out loud to someone else. Maybe we use it as a badge of honor for how needed we are and how lucky the world is to have us around. Or perhaps it’s a convenient way to get out of something we don’t want to do. More likely for me, it is a symptom of misaligned priorities.

There’s two women in scripture who you may be familiar with: Martha and her sister Mary. Martha invited Jesus and his traveling companions to their home. Then while Mary “sat at Jesus’ feet and was listening to what he said,” Martha began bustling about, probably preparing some food for her guests. But something was bothering her.

“Lord don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.”

Can you relate? Have you ever felt like you were doing all the work? It’s not a great feeling, when there seems to be help readily available. Surely Jesus would come to Martha’s aid and remind the slothful and immature Mary to get about her work. But look at his response.

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice and it will not be taken away from her.”

Now if Martha was making a meal — food — for this band of travelers, what could have seemed more necessary? She may have thought, “One thing is necessary?! Yes! And that’s to make food for this lot of people that I invited in! They need to eat!”

In the context of her being overwhelmed about cooking and food, Jesus looks at Martha and says in effect, “Your sister has chosen the good portion.” In other words, she is eating the right meal.

In John 6, Jesus had a conversation with a crowd of people and he told them, “Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life.”

“What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked. The answer was perhaps more simple than they expected: “This is the work of God — that you believe in the one He has sent.”

Too simple. So they asked for a sign. What sign might he give them? What about a miracle of heaven-sent food, like the manna their ancestors received in the desert hundreds of years earlier? Jesus said, “The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

“Sir, give us this bread always.” And then Jesus drops the big news.

“I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry…”

Dear friends, do you feel like you are striving and not really being fulfilled? Do you feel hungry down in the level of your soul? Don’t be worried and distracted by so many things, but stop and sit at the feet of Jesus. You will never, ever be able to do enough to earn a relationship with God. We cannot make our way to heaven by doing anything, no matter how good or how much. 

When you get hungry enough, slow down and ask Jesus what is on the menu. He has the food that lasts for eternal life. He is the only way to live the life you were meant to live.

 

(Seth Carter is the director of Campus Ventures in Powell.)

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