Appetite

We as humans are physical beings, at least in part.  Even those of us who have been reborn “of water and the Spirit are still cocooned in this physical body.  As such, we are naturally driven by our appetites and desires.  We eat when we are hungry.  We sleep when we are tired.  God designed us this way, and like all of creation, it was good.

We sometimes tend to focus primarily on the spiritual matters of our Christianity, until toward the end of the sermon when our stomach starts to growl.  Temptations dwell in the physical realm.   We are tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed by our flesh.

Sin has distorted our appetites.  Eve saw that the fruit was good for food, she desired it in her heart, and succumbed to the disobedience.  Thus, our appetites are altered, waging war in our members.  We lust and do not have.  We murder and covet to obtain.  We are enslaved to the serpent through the desires of our body and mind.

But man does not live by bread alone.  We are not defined by what we want.  We have been set free from sin, and given the ability to desire righteousness in Christ Jesus.  We mustn’t fear our appetites.  Instead we must embrace them, and let them be a constant reminder to seek the Living Water and the Bread of Life, the spiritual provision found in a relationship with God.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    For they shall be filled.