Junk Food for the Soul

 Junk Food for the Soul

 

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.

MATTHEW 5.6

 

When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.

PSALM 145.16

 

They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.

PHILIPPIANS 3.19

 

Your family is driving along the motorway, and everyone’s stomach is starting to growl. You already had fast food for lunch, and now you want a nice meal. But as the exits pass and no good restaurants are in sight, you finally give in and go for what is easy and might satisfy the taste buds but isn’t necessarily nourishing. Then sure enough, the next exit has your favourite sit-down restaurant. But by now you’re all filled up with junk food!

Sometimes we wonder why we have no appetite to read the Bible, no hunger for getting to know God better, no desire to talk about Jesus. We know we should, but we just can’t seem to work up an appetite for spiritual things. Often that’s because we have filled up on something else — like when we fill up with chips before dinnertime. The noise of the television, the lure of the computer, the ring of the mobile phone can so clutter our minds and fill up our days that we have no room left for quiet contemplation, thinking about Scripture, or listening for God. We filled up with other stuff, and now we can’t work up a hunger for God.

God has given us a great deal of freedom in what we feed our schedules and our souls. Are you filling up on the junk of the world or working up a big appetite for God?