Sometimes you hear people say that they like feeling a little hungry. I’ve tried it out, the hunger and the positive spin on it. There is a renewed interest in fasting these days–a lifestyle could only be fashionable in a world of abundance–and fasters choose to be hungry. Sleep “experts” want you to go to bed on an empty stomach so that your body can spend more energy restoring than digesting. Again, it’s a blessing when it’s a choice to be hungry.
Jesus did teach, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). Hunger and thirst are, no matter our optimistic language, a lack, a longing, a pain, whether little or a lot. Hunger and thirst mean you want something that you don’t have. Hunger and thirst mean you feel the need.
The want is a sign of life. The want is not just healthy it’s blessed. But such a want fills our wills with a sort of dissatisfaction.
Our time at the Lord’s Supper is both satisfying and stirring. It increases joy and want. Here we experience love and longing. We have Christ, and we wait for His return. He doesn’t have to die and rise again for sake of our righteous position, and also, we hunger and thirst for more righteousness, for the telos of our satisfaction promised by Jesus.
What a blessing to eat and drink Christ, and what a blessing to hunger and thirst for more of Christ.