A Big Appetite For Jesus

Joshua Crawford

At restaurant buffets, some folks make a sport out of how much food they can consume.  With no limit on trips to the buffet and an endless supply of plates, a big eater is only limited by the size of his or her appetite.  Frequently taking this attitude with food isn’t a healthy practice, but God strongly desires we adopt this mentality with our spiritual life.  How is your appetite for Jesus?

We never have greater spiritual hunger than when we’re desperate, and in 2 Kings 4, we meet a woman at the end of her rope.  “Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried to Elisha, ‘Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the Lord, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.’” (v. 1)  About to lose everything, she tells Elisha, the prophet of God, that all she has in her home is a single jar of oil.  Elisha instructs her, “Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not too few.  Then go in and shut the door behind yourself and your son and pour into all these vessels.” (v. 3-4)  The vessels all became full from the single jar; the oil didn’t stop flowing until the vessels ran out.  Elisha told her, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your sons can live on the rest.” (v. 7)

The meaning of a story like this can be confusing, so look to other Scripture to discover what Elisha was doing.  “I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.  Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” (Psalm 81:10)  What does that mean?  Fill us with what?  Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:51)  God wants us to have a big appetite for all that His Son offers; if you have that hunger, God is more than willing to bless you.   “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew 5:6)

When we’re backed against the wall, like the widow, where do we turn to fill our empty vessels?  Are we like a starving person at a bounteous buffet, desperately bringing all our emptiness to Jesus?  So often, our plates are empty of love, forgiveness, acceptance, hope, and security – all which is found in the person of Jesus.  The apostle Paul says of Christ, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him…” (Colossians 2:9-10) Today, how many trips have you made to the endless buffet of Jesus?