Justin Tucker, LHBC Worship Pastor
Matthew 5:6
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
One of the things that I really missed during last year’s shut down was going to the movies. Just going into the building engages so many of our senses. There are the movie posters, the sounds and blinking lights of arcade games. But then, there is the sound and smell of popping popcorn and melting butter that make your mouth start to salivate. You see other people with popcorn. You see other people eating popcorn. You go find your seat, the lights go dim, and the first thing that comes on is a commercial with a singing and dancing Coke, tub of popcorn, and box of Raisinets and they are taunting you. Finally, you rush out to the concession stand and you purchase a tub of popcorn that could feed an entire village and a 5 gallon bucket of Coke. You’ve justified the second mortgage that you just now had to put on your house because hey…you get free refills.
How many of us have done that? I know I have. The movie theater industry knows how to create hunger in us. They know that they can draw us in by invoking hunger through our senses. We want the popcorn because it looks good, it smells good, and it triggers memory receptors in our brains that make it taste good before we even take a bite! I was mowing my yard a couple of weeks ago and listening to a podcast when someone said, “Hunger invokes hunger. The best way to create hungry people is to feast in front of them.” What if we, as God’s people, would feast on the Bread of Presence as David did in 1 Samuel 21? By spending time in the presence of God we would become equipped to carry His presence into conversations and relationships with people. Could we create people that are hungry if we, ourselves, were feasting on God’s Word? Sure. Matthew 4:4 says, Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” If we would feast on God’s Word, it would enable us to speak tinto people’s lives with grace and truth.
As followers of Christ we want to create a hunger in people that are far from God to enter into a relationship with them. Just like the sights and smells and commercials at the movie theater create a desire to eat popcorn, our lives have to be the sights and smells and commercials for a world that needs to meet Jesus. We need to stay hungry to invoke hunger in others and we need to be sure to feast in front of them. We have to get people to the table. John 6:35 says, “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.” If we can get them to the table, Jesus can sate any hunger and quench any thirst they will ever have.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord Jesus, keep us hungry. As we fill ourselves up with Your presence, Your Word, and Your life…teach us to be carriers of Your presence, Your grace, Your mercy, and Your love. Teach us to get people to the table where You can change lives forever. Thank you for saving my life through the giving up of Your own. We love You and praise Your holy name. It is in Your name, Jesus, that we pray. Amen.
MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK:
Philippians 3:12
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.