Cravings

11.01.10 - 11.16.10
BEFORE YOU READ:
This post is long. It is not designed to be a quick read. You will have to stop and ponder while reading this. This post is not cupcakes, sprinkles, and roses. It will call you out. It will challenge you. If you are not willing to peer into your heart and life and take a hard look at it, stop reading right now. Don't even waste your time. If, however you are ready to be challenged by the spirit and to take a hard look into your heart, read on, friend.


I suppose this whole idea of cravings got started a few weeks ago when we talked about cravings in youth group. Craving righteousness, that is. For some reason, this idea of craving...spiritually... stuck with me.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." Hmmm.
As my youth pastor said, “there is not a day that goes by that you don’t eat or drink, and if there is, there’s not an hour that goes by that you are not craving something to eat or drink.

I can’t stop thinking: What if we treated the word of God like that? What if we craved his word as much as we crave food and water? The American church would look totally different. We would be so much more passionate, because we would know Him better. Late me give you a weird, but good example:
If you look at a body of believers in an impoverished, rural country, say, Saudi Arabia, v.s the church in America, you'll almost immideately notice a night and day difference in passion for Jesus. And i bet most of you know that. But do we ever stop to think, WHY? Amd I mean, seriously ask ourselves why on earth it is that the ones who have less "christian resources" than we do seem to love Him so much more?
I think there's a lot of reasons for it, but I think the main one is that in America, we tend to know a devotional book, a list of rules, maybe a great cloud up in tha sky, or the man upstairs, but not a Father. Not a Savior. And most certainly not someone who is madly in love with YOU individually, so much so that he died for you so you could spend eternity with him. And I don't know why we dont see that. I think part of it is because we take everything for granted here. I know that on the days when I dont spend time with jesus, its usually because i brush it off throughout the day with a thought that's sonewhere around the vicinity of:"I can do it later. I'm rushed now. By bible will be there tonight. I'm tired. I have loads of homework."
Which really, if you get to root of it, is partly taking advantage of the things that I have. I know my bible will be there when the day ends. I don't crave his word, because I know its always going to be there...

Guess what!? In Afghanistan,they aren't even allowed to own bibles! Do you know how crazy they go over ONE PAGE out of the bible? And here we sit with 5 or 6 bibles in our homes, and when was the last time you picked yours up? Please understand: I’m not pointing a finger here; I'm looking in a mirror... But can't you see? It should really be the other way around. We have all these resources and groups and organizations, and camps and retreats specifically designed to build our relationships with Jesus, and in countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Maldives, and Somalia they can't really even say the name of Jesus without serious consequences, and yet, they are so much more passionate and in love with jesus...


Um, excuse me, but DO YOU SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT PICTURE?!?

Like i said before, I'm not trying to point a finger here or yell at people and preach hellfire & brimstone(although I do realize that at this point you might be seriously doubting that)But think about it. There is something seriously wrong with that picture, people!

So far, this blog has taken 2 weks to write, and I doubt i'll be done soon. But as I type on my laptop today, it's International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. This morning, I was once again reminded of how pasionate we should be.

Have you ever considered that people in countries where they are persecuted for ther faith are way more bold in their faith then we are? And they are the ones who are imprisones, tortured, and truly persecuted for their faith. And here we are, afraid to speak out because we're afraid someone might not want to be our friend anymore. How CHILDISH! I know childlikeness is good sometimes, but NOT HERE!

think of this:
I have a serious addiction to chocolate. i will eat a whole triple chocolate cake in one sitting if you let me(and then i'll be puking it all up afterwards, but that's besides the point) Well, heres an analogy: How can you crave chocolate if you’ve never had chocolate? How can you crave the word of God if you’ve never read it? In order to fall in love with Jesus, in order to crave is word and his presence, you have to get to know him first. And you cant really know someone unless you spend time with them. And so that's my encouragement to you: Get to know jesus. We fail and fail to spend time wiht him, but maybe thats just because we simply don't know him. Spend time with the one who created you, and maybe, just maybe, you'll find yourself falling in love.

Hebrews 4:12- For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.


Carpe Diem,
angie