My husband is a meat and potatoes
kind of guy. Over the years, I have tried to pass off some meatless meals as
satisfying. But, as he combs his fork through the meal I have offered, he
inevitably will ask, “Where’s the meat?” You see, when my husband sits at the
table after a long day, he expects, well, MEAT. Not lettuce wraps, not soy
burgers and not meatless manicotti, but meat.
Like my husband, there are just some things we expect to see. There are some things that logically go together, like meat and potatoes. God also has some expectations from us. As we grow and mature in Christ, spending time in His word and walking in His ways, he expects that we will move from milk to solid food (Hebrews 5:11-14). Our appetite changes as we mature. The same is true in Christ. Growing in Him, we hunger for more. We thirst in a way that can only be satisfied by the Lord. When we try to stave off hunger with the world, we feel empty. But when we let our cup be filled by Christ, we are satisfied, yet we come away with a greater hunger.
You
see, hunger for the Word is something you expect to see from a mature
Christian. The people that you admire that love the Lord Our God with all their
heart, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30) are the ones who have a history of
walking with Him. He proves Himself faithful as they walk, and they desire Him
more. They are not filled once with Christ, and then satisfied for life. They
have experienced a satisfaction so deep that they cannot imagine trying to
replace it with milk meant for babies. God’s power supplies us with everything
we need to accomplish the purpose He intended (2 Peter 1:3). We are meant to
return to the Lord, hour after hour, filling with His power and then taking it
out to fulfill His plans.
We are driven by hunger! A starving man will do whatever it takes to get food in his belly. If a man knows what it is like to be hungry, he will work hard to keep food in his home, earning money to feed his family. Our hunger drives us to work hard to stay full (Proverbs 16:26). The more we hunger for God’s word, the more we grow in maturity and knowledge of Christ Jesus. Maturity is marked by hunger. We see maturity and we expect to see hunger, as my husband expects to see meat on his dinner table.
Are you
hungry for the word of God or are you still being spoon fed baby food from the
pulpit once a week that leaves you in your immaturity? God did not intend for
us to stay baby Christians! When we are babies, we are easily persuaded from
the truth, but Christ has equipped us to mature in the faith and unite in Him
(Ephesians 4:11-14).
Are you hungry? Do you thirst?
Christ longs to fill you up! He expects you to fill yourself with Him, to
choose maturity in Christ over the counterfeit the world offers! 
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