Craving

Jesus said to them,

“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

-John 6:35

Two Things, Real Quick:
1. Happy Mother's Day!
2. Praise God! I am officially done with my Master's of Divinity! May 14, 2010 is the date for the graduation ceremony.

Humans are incurably spiritual. That's why truth is so important. Truth is immaterial. Truth is mental. Truth cannot be felt, but it exists. Truth, when grasped, sets us free.

Give a man possessions. Glorify him and let him have prestige. Grant him financial success. Satisfy his lusts. Do all these things for him and yet, if you strip him of truth, he hungers...he has an incurable craving. A craving that gnaws at the soul and actually grows the longer it is unfed. A craving that is so innate that it begins to render all other "goods" in life devoid of meaning. Joy is lost as everything else seems so...ridiculously ephemeral, temporal, trivial, and unsatisfying. "Mud pies," C.S. Lewis once called them.

Idolatry has a strange way of destroying the idolater. In an ironic twist, the very thing that one thought ought to bring happiness turns out to be bankrupt in its promises and becomes the bearer of grief. In hunger, we try to satisfy our cravings with idols. "Perhaps a relationship will bring the affirmation and love that I crave?" "If I only had degree from ________ University..." "If I only had _______ ministry position, I would..." The list could go on and on. Hence, as we center our lives around these idols, we turn from truth. In turning from truth, we enslave ourselves to hunger. Resultant from perpetual hunger, we inevitably die.

Jesus. Jesus is Truth. Jesus is God. Jesus is God who died and paid for your sins. Jesus is God who resurrected in victory.

Why is all that relevant? Because in John 6:35, Jesus offers Himself as the solution for hunger and thirst. As spiritual beings, we hunger for the eternal. WE HUNGER FOR GOD. God, being ultimate truth, the ultimate real, can satisfy our deepest cravings. Hence, the words, "shall never thirst." God, the ultimate truth, satisfies the thirst of a humanity that is thirsting for Him--whether they know it or not.

Until your thirst is satisfied by Jesus, you will lack joy. Sure, you might have bouts of illusion-like happiness, but deflating depression will be your norm. Self-derived meaning is imbecility. Even if you fool yourself into believing that "life is whatever you make it out to mean," death will ultimately viciously rip that facade apart. Make no mistake about it: Life's meaning comes from its Creator.