Appetites

Yesterday Nancy had a day off so we scheduled a day trip to Lancaster. Its kind of a favorite spot for us to go as we like seeing the Amish setting, quilts, antiques, and there are two stores we like to go to as well. One is a farmer’s market where they sell all kinds of Amish foods, meats, cheeses, etc and across the road is a bakery and we seem to always get out of there with at least a Shoo Fly pie !   Lots of great things to satisfy the appetites to say the least !

As a Christian you have God given appetites He gave you the moment you asked Him to save you. They not only confirm you were truly born again they also help you to have victory over sin when you “eat” right.  But are you eating right?  Or are you feasting on junk food lately?    Too much TV, technology, or trash !  Jeremiah wrote this, “Thy words were found and I did EAT them and Thy Word was unto me the JOY and REJOICING of my heart: for I am called  by Thy name, O, Lord God of hosts”  (15:16).    Catch what the prophet said here?  When he ingested the Scriptures it brought to him a real joy that satisfied and the reason he had this desire was he had been called by Him Who gives the desire in the first place.

Now I don’t know if you ever tried Shoo Fly pie? Its one of those deals where you either love it or you absolutely don’t.  But it pleases our taste buds. As a child of God our spiritual palates are all the same.  We may , due to the sinful nature in us still, resist reading our Bible but once we start it begins to fuel the spiritual desire in us and we can start to relate to Jeremiah.

One of the stops we made yesterday was at an outlet. As I was browsing through a Christian book store I asked the clerk if they had any commentaries.  She said a few but not many and I told her that  I’ve noticed a trend in just  twenty years. That these stores had many of them then but not so much now typically.  Why so few now she asked? I told her the demand is much lower as people aren’t really wanting to study their Bibles as much today and your companies know that so they put other books in their place that will sell. Her response was “that’s really sad but you are right.”

Sure there is a part of us that resists Bible reading and study. But once we start and get into it marvelous things open up to us like finding a nugget of cold or precious gem. Something we’ve always wondered about clicks. Our dormant spiritual desires are awakened and we get pysched when God shows us something we hadn’t seen there before !   Take a little time today or tomorrow this weekend and sit down and slowly read a book of the Bible.  Read about the life of Joseph, David or Ruth.  Trace some doctrine through the Bible or some subject through Proverbs and have it form in you accurate beliefs and convictions so you know where God stands.  We pastors study the Word for a “living”, we Christians need to do so for satisfied living !