November 29, 2010 - What are you hungry for?

What are you hungry for?

This past week we had Thanksgiving dinner. That morning I found myself craving certain foods that I knew were headed my way. When it came time to eat I didn’t have to be told twice to get to the dinner table! When it came time to eat, I ate and then ate some more. I think it could be called “feasting.”

Hunger is a tremendous motivator. It is a driving force in life. Yet hunger and craving are two different things. The simple fact is that I could have stepped away from the dinner table very easily on Thanksgiving Day. The truth is that I avoided some of my cravings. Cravings are nice when they are fulfilled but not a big deal when they are not.

So why am I drawing this comparison? What does it have to do with athletics? What does it have to do with our Christian walks?

There is a great quote from Bobby Knight that states: “Everyone has the will to win, but few have the will to prepare to win.” Using the terms we are discussing: Everyone craves winning, but not everyone is driven to win.

Hunger creates a discomfort that results in a willingness to work hard. A hungry person will eat just about anything. A hungry person is driven to get food! A hungry person is desperate to eat.

I believe the thing that sets apart great players is not athletic ability or skill set, but instead it is hunger. When you hear the greats discussed, (MJ, Magic, Bird, Kobe, etc.), you here people talk about their insatiable hunger to win. Often you hear people question a guy like LeBron because they wonder if he is truly “hungry” or is he just incredibly gifted – yet satisfied? The greats are desperate to win.

So again I ask, “What are you hungry for?” If you crave being a college athlete, that is great. But are you hungry to be a college athlete? It will be evidenced in your work ethic. And the same principle will hold true for anything you desire to accomplish in life.

What about your spiritual life? I think most of us as Christians crave knowing Christ in a deeper way. We all want to be closer to the Lord. Yet I don’t know that we all have a passionate hunger to know Him. The Apostle Paul is the shining example of what it means to hunger for Christ.

In Philippians he goes as far as saying that even his “chains” are “in Christ.” Everything he faces in life he views as an opportunity to magnify and know Christ more. Read Philippians 3. Paul tells us that the religious life he lived did not satisfy him. He counts all things as loss for the excellence of knowing Christ. He “presses on” in this quest. He “feasts” on God’s truth. He is desperate to know Him more.

Are you desperate to know God in a deeper way? Are you hungry for Him?

Proverbs 16: 26 The person who labors, labors for himself, For his hungry mouth drives him on. (NKJV)

Proverbs 16: 26 Appetite is an incentive to work; hunger makes you work all the harder. (The Message)