June 25, 2013

• Appetites

  There is no accounting for taste, is there? We are all individuals with different likes and dislikes. I remember a girl at the university I attended who kept a bottle of straight lemon juice in the dorm refrigerator. She would drink that like others drank Coke. It made me shiver to watch!  Some people have a taste for sushi. I just cannot go there. I have actually had it in my mouth, but I couldn't swallow it.

  Some people have to have chocolate every day. Some folks feel like they couldn't survive without coffee. Others are into healthy eating. They sing the praises of fruit smoothies, carrot juice and spelt. Pregnant ladies often have strange cravings. When I was pregnant with my first child, I wanted tomatoes and mayo on a toasted English muffin EVERY DAY. 

  Then there are our tastes in fashion! Goodness! I have seen young ladies in the Bronx wearing earrings as big as their heads! I have seen folks with every inch of the skin you can see covered by tattoos. Some people are compelled to buy shoes, shoes and more shoes. There are so many tastes when it comes to fashion. I find some ridiculous, but I know that is the opinion of a more *a-hem* mature individual who is a bit on the lumpy side.

  Oh! The choices we make! Oh! The things we crave! So much of what we choose is not even healthy for us, is it? It gains us no good thing. Some activities start out making us happy only to become addictions.

  Some people have a need to see every new movie to hit the cinema. Some people stay up late into the night playing video games. Some people are always looking for new experiences and thrills. Some people cannot stay away from porn. Others love to travel, or garden or shop.What are you hungry for?

  (Jer. 15:16 NLT)  When I discovered Your words, I devoured them. They are my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear Your name, O LORD God of Heaven's Armies.

  (Mat. 5:6 MSG)  "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat."

  With all that we do and crave, where does God fit? Are we hungry to know Him better? Do we desire His presence every day? Do we look forward to spending time in His house with His people? When we open our Bible, are we excited about what God will show us in His word? 

  Maybe it is time to make better choices. Maybe it is time to ask God to give us more of a hunger for Him. Maybe it's time to turn off the computer or the TV and spend some time with God. Maybe it's time to stop pointing the finger at others, and do some personal repenting.

  (Psalm 51:2-7, 10-12 MSG)  Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry. I know how bad I've been; my sins are staring me down. You're the One I've violated, and you've seen it all, seen the full extent of my evil. You have all the facts before you; whatever you decide about me is fair. I've been out of step with you for a long time, in the wrong since before I was born. What you're after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life. Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean, scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life. God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life. Don't throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me. Bring me back from gray exile, put a fresh wind in my sails!

  Ask God for a new appetite.

  • 5:29 am
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