What Are You Hungry For?

Here's a word that we don't hear too much anymore: whet. When you look it up online, the "archaic" definition is "a thing that stimulates appetite or desire." When my wife is cooking one of her epic meals, there is an aroma that permeates our home. That aroma whets my appetite for whatever it is she is cooking. I begin to anticipate how incredibly delicious the meal will be. And I am never disappointed.

Proverbs 15:14 says "The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly." (NIV) Eugene Peterson says it like this in his paraphrase, The Message, "An intelligent person is always eager to take in more truth; fools feed on fast-food fads and fancies."

I will confess that I am far from where I desire to be in my knowledge of the Lord. That recognized distance is part of what motivates me to go deeper with God through prayer and study of scripture. In fact, the more time I spend with God and the more I dig into his Word, the more my appetite for what God desires to give me through those spiritual disciplines grows.

It's like anything else with which we fill our lives: time in the gym, video games, books, addictions, etc. As we continue to engage in these things, our desire for them increases. We want more of what they have to offer. But in the grand picture of God's righteousness, what value do these things ultimately have? Sure, being in the gym helps to keep us healthy, but if it becomes the only thing that whets our appetite, then are we consuming what God would have for us? I can't say many good things about video games, but just like any other form of entertainment, in small doses and with purity, these things are not always harmful. Unless they become our emphasis of worship. Unless they consume our time.

The heart that discerns through the power of the Holy Spirit will desire the knowledge of God. You will hunger and thirst for righteousness. You will crave the things of God. But a heart that feeds on folly - things of little or no significance - is a foolish heart. It is a misplaced worship. It is idolatry.

The Proverbs teach that if we desire wisdom, we have to seek it out. If we desire knowledge, we must look for it. The man or woman who chooses to follow Christ cannot live both as a fool, chasing folly and the things of this world, and live as an obedient disciple of Jesus Christ.

Choose today who you are going to serve. Let your appetite be for the things of God and not foolish things. You will never be disappointed if you eat at the table of fellowship with him.