I was once told of a woman who lived in a cold-weather climate. She suffered from poor health and this in a part of the world where she could not easily get the nutrition she needed. Doctors suggested she travel to the tropics where the setting might be more conducive to a recovery. A few weeks after her departure she wrote to a friend to say, “This is a wonderful spot where I have access to all the good and nutritious food I could ever need. If only I could find my appetite I’d be well in no time.” But within weeks she was gone. In the end, it wasn’t a lack of food that took her life, but a lack of hunger.
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And in much the same way, we have before us all the spiritual food we could ever need—enough to fill and sustain us for a lifetime, enough to carry us through the most difficult trials we can ever face, enough to fit us for life on this earth and an eternity of heaven. The question is whether we will take and eat—whether we will satisfy ourselves with the bounty spread out before us.
Do you attend the worship services of your local church? It is here that you will be fed good food. It is here that the Bible is preached and read and prayed, here that you will see the Bible displayed in the ordinances, here that you will join to sing its very words and greatest truths. It is here that week by week you can take and eat. Do you?
Do you read your Bible day-by-day? Generations of our forebears and millions of our contemporaries could only wish to have the access to the Scriptures that we do today—a hundred translations, a thousand apps, a million opportunities to read it, to know it, to obey it. All that can keep you from the Scriptures and all their benefits is a lack of desire, a lack of hunger. Do you fill yourself with this food?
Do you spend time in fellowship with Christians, those who are charged by God to carry out the work of ministry, to speak the truth in love, to encourage you in your faith? To spend time with brothers and sisters is to spend time with those who can speak the greatest truths to your highest joys and your deepest sorrows. Do you spend time with them so you can enjoy the feast they provide?
Do you take advantage of the bounty of resources that is available to all of us today? Never in all of history have we had so many books and blogs, so many broadcasts and podcasts, so many sermons and periodicals. There is a great meal spread before us at every moment of every day and the only question is whether we will partake of it, whether we will join in the feast.
We see many withering and perishing around us, many diminishing and dying. Those who fall away and are lost can not possibly be said to have died from a lack of food, for there is an unending bounty spread before us. They can only be said to have died from a lack of appetite—from a simple failure to take what is offered, what can feed them, what can strengthen and equip them for a lifetime of serving God and an eternity of enjoying him. It is not a lack of food that threatens any of us, but only a lack of hunger.