What Do You Crave?
Every day, multiple times a day, little alarms are triggered inside your brain. They make your stomach growl, your mouth water, or your mind become fixed on that which you crave.
God gave us physical needs that mirror our spiritual needs. Needs that must be met to stay healthy and alive. Needs that must be satisfied over and over again. In fact, food is often used in the Bible as a metaphor for our spiritual needs (it's called "our daily bread" in Matthew and the "pure milk" of the Word in 1 Peter, to name a couple.)
In the fourth beatitude, which are a series of promises Jesus made about God’s Kingdom, Jesus said this:
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
Matthew 5:6 NIV
Do you long for righteousness and justice? Do you desire the ways of God? Do you yearn for His kingdom to come? Do you want to be someone who chases after that which can never truly satisfy, or someone who hungers and thirsts after God?
In this upside-down kingdom where Jesus is Lord, the poor can be rich, the weak can be strong, and the empty can be filled.
Jesus Christ not only holds the keys to “living water,” but He is the “Bread of Life.” So, when you feel Him prompting your heart—to fight for justice, to love the unloved, to stand up for what’s right (even when it’s not popular)—pay attention.
He stands ready to fill you with everything you need.
The Mission of God
All of our lives are spent on something.
Most people spend their days focused on growing a family, building a career, or amassing possessions. While none of those things are necessarily wrong, they can become distractions from our ultimate goal in life.
In the book of Acts, we see Paul’s transformation in Christ. As a result of meeting Jesus and being changed by His grace, Paul spends the rest of his life preaching the good news of Jesus.
For Paul, God’s grace and salvation were so great that nothing on this earth could compare to doing His work.
Paul said that nothing in his life mattered as much as telling others about God’s grace. His goal in life was to finish his own race well by faithfully accomplishing as much of the mission of God as possible:
"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God's grace."
Acts 20:24 NIV
The mission of ...