What are you hungry for in this one life we have to live? Is there something out there that you are desperately yearning for, longing for, desiring?
Do you remember the days after 9/11? The malls were empty. Churches were packed.
A 16-year-old kid in the youth group at the church I was serving, on the Sunday after 9/11, said, with a hint of anger in his voice, “Glen, we’ve been told since birth that it is all about getting: Getting an education, getting a job, getting a spouse, getting a house, getting, getting, getting. Tell me that God has something more in mind for us than a house full of stuff!”
It was pretty clear to me then that pizza and volleyball weren’t going to be enough for our youth program. He was hungry for something more.
He is not alone. In fact, his story is as old as history. In the Gospel of John there is a story about Jesus feeding thousands of people. They loved him for that. Their stomachs were filled and they were ready to make him king. He looked out at the crowd and said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry.” He was not talking about physical hunger, but something more, something worthwhile, something worth living for in this life.
Jesus knew then and we know now, deep down, that there has got to be more to life than simply gathering and collecting more and more stuff. There’s got to be something worth living for in this one life we live.
Later in that same Gospel, Jesus says, “A new command I give you, love one another.” It really wasn’t a new command but there was something new about the way Jesus said it or, more than that, the way he lived it. His life, his teaching, even his death and resurrection, were all done in the light of that love.
Jesus knew then and we know now, deep down, that what we really want, what we are hungry for more than anything else, is the desire to love and be loved.
It’s as simple and as profound as that.
Grace and peace to you,
-Glen
