In May 1846, 187 men, women and children left from Missouri in a wagon train headed to California. There was nothing exceptional about the group or this journey and we would have never known about them had they not made the decision to try a shortcut. The “Hastings Cutoff,” as it was known, was indeed a shorter route to their destination, but it had only been tried on horseback. No wagon had made the journey. This group, now known as “The Donner Party,” would not complete their journey.
This group is famous because of allegations of cannibalism that occurred within the group while waiting for rescue. We find the thought repugnant and disgusting. We like to believe that, no matter what, we would never do such a thing. It would be more accurate to say, “I have not been that hungry yet,” than to say, “I would never eat that.” The survivors were high in the Sierra Madre for three months with no food at all.
I have heard people make the observation, “I wasn’t fed at church.” I assume they mean that they didn’t learn anything useful or that they didn’t feel the presence of God. I also have heard the charge that, “I don’t like doing it this way” or “I don’t like that version of the Bible.” Compare this to your kids coming to you complaining that there is nothing to eat in the house. When you point out various options, they exclaim, “I don’t like that.” Your response is, “Then you aren’t truly hungry yet.”
You know who doesn’t like what is spread on God’s table? The one that isn’t hungry. The one seeking self-satisfaction and validation. Who wants to pick and choose the ways they will worship? The one that doesn’t think they need God. They are full—of themselves.
In Matthew 5:6, Jesus commends the one that “hungers and thirsts” for righteousness. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
Think hungry. Desperate. Without pride or will. With one goal and one goal only: to be fed. To eat readily from whatever it is God lays on the table. To accept whatever condition, correction or assignment He throws at us without hesitation. When we come to Church and worship Jesus, we should leave filled and content. So when we leave still hungry and discontent, whose fault is it?
Whose fault is it when we are never satisfied with the one who promised to fill us? When Jesus said that “they shall be filled.” He meant that we would be filled with His presence, His power, His mercy, His forgiveness, His guidance, His word, His truth, His desires, His wisdom and His love. That, my friends, is a 10-course meal. We will be filled to overflowing! Righteousness, faith and truth come only from Jesus Christ. Our hunger for righteousness is filled only by Jesus Christ, who is our righteousness.
As a matter of fact, Jesus Christ is the only righteous person who has ever lived. The Bible says that 2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. How truly hungry are you?
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