The following column was published in the Murray Ledger & Times, Weekend Edition November 9-10, 2019:

Hungry Christians

Bible Gleanings by Brandon Bramlett

Pastor of Locust Grove Baptist Church

All babies cry. Their cry is one heard ‘round the world, too. One, because all babies everywhere cry, no matter their skin color or ethnicity. Their squeal requires no translation—every language understands it. And two, some cry so loudly that it appears to travel the globe. A variety of things may cause an infant to cry. Perhaps they need a diaper change. Maybe they want to be held. It may be that they are trying to break a world record for the loudest and longest cry. But every parent knows that infants often cry when they are hungry. It’s their way of saying, “Hey, I’m hungry—feed me.” It is healthy for a baby to be hungry—they need nourishment to be strong, growing, and healthy.

If you are a Christian, so do you. You need spiritual food so you can thrive, flourish, and grow. It is healthy to be spiritually hungry for spiritual nourishment. No wonder the apostle Peter wrote, “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). Just as newborns naturally hunger for the nutrition that comes from their mother’s milk, it should be natural for you to hunger for the nutrition that comes from God. More specifically, this spiritual nutrition comes from, “the pure spiritual milk.” Clearly, this is referring to the word of God in the Old and New Testaments. The Scripture is pure—undefiled, free of contamination and error. The Scripture is spiritual—it deals with our spiritual lives. And the Scripture is like milk because we can digest it and be nourished by its contents.

As a believer, you are commanded to hunger and cry out for the word of God so you will feast upon it and “grow up into salvation.” The more you hunger for the word and are fed by it, the more you’ll grow in your salvation. This intense desire for the word of God has been characteristic of believers since the time of Job. Job described his intense longing for the Bible like this: “I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food” (Job 23:12).

But how can you maintain a hunger like this? Here’s the answer: understand that hunger is directly correlated to taste. Think about your favorite meal—you hunger for it because you know how good it tastes. Likewise, you will hunger for the word of God the more you taste it. Many have no desire for the word because they don’t know what it tastes like. But the more “meals” of God’s word you consume, the hungrier you’ll be, and the more you’ll grow. So, are you a hungry Christian?