::Earth-Shattering Distinctives::

:: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 ::

Writing Exercise #3
"Feeding Hunger"

From Bonni Goldberg regarding instructions for this exercise: "Today write about what you hunger for. If this seems daunting, start with a simple desire, such as a craving for chocolate or sushi, and then move on to experiences that either feed or intensify your hunger."

Burn for Burn

I like the fact that the author juxtaposed chocolate and sushi, because these are definitely two things I associate together. There was a mall in Escondido CA that Bill and I used to go to all the time for my birthday and Valentine's Day, and attached to the mall was a pretty elaborate sushi buffet restaurant. It was more expensive than your everyday buffet, but cheaper than a Japanese sushi bar and steakhouse. There were even waitresses greeting patrons with the customary "irasshaimase" or "welcome". After we ate, we'd go up the escalator into the mall and go to the Godiva chocolate store and Bill would buy me some chocolate.

I associate any kind of hunger or craving with burning... not painful burning, but a good kind of burn that you get from a good physical workout. Our stomachs burn from HCL when we're hungry, letting us know it's time to refuel. Even chocolate burns my mouth and throat when it goes down sometimes... not digestively, but culinarily. It's hard to explain, but it's a really wonderfully strange sensation. And I have to have wasabi with sushi, because I postitively love the burn of it mixed with the saltiness of soy sauce. When I crave sushi, chocolate, Chinese hot mustard with sweet and sour sauce, veggies with redwine vinegrette, mongolian barbeque or medium mexican salsa, I always want the burn of the craving to be answered by the burn of taste. I just can't believe all these flavors the Lord has made for us to enjoy. His genius literally blows my mind.

Even the dull, groggy headache that calls for coffee in the morning or in the lull of the afternoon is a sort of burn that I want to be answered by the burn of caffeine rushing through me. Even if I'm alone and I have that first sip of pure, strong Kansas City Roasterie Red Eye, I shake my head in a shivery way and say, "Good Morning!!!"

And when I crave a workout, I'm burning with a desire to stretch, move, run... something! They say that exercise is a nutrient, and that's true. My body demands it, and in return there's the burn that lets me know that I'm getting the results I want.

We burn for anything we love and need. However, because we're sinners, these good burns can turn into idolatry, and we need to take our burns captive to God's Law-Word. We have to guard our minds and be sure we are not burning in a sinful way. It's one thing to burn for food when the body calls for it, or burn for an appropriate activity at an appropriate time or in a correct context. It's another thing to burn and want satisfaction without God's boundaries. When we burn for something (or someone) in a way God's Law-Word forbids, we need to ask Him to answer that burn with His standard and replace our sin with a burn for righteousness, a love for His Law-Word, and a proper love for His creation. If we are burning with lust, unbiblical anger, bitterness, gluttony or debauchery, it may feel satisfying for a time, but it will eventually end in burning hell if gone unchecked by God's intervention. God is faithful and will show us how to burn with love for Him so we don't have to burn the other way. And the burn of a righteous heart is more satisfying than anything, since that is how God meant for us to burn!

If we love Christ, we burn. And it doesn't matter whether we are eating, watching a movie, doing a craft, writing, enjoying physical ministry to our husbands, or shopping. At the forefront, there should be a desire to feel God's pleasure. As Christians, we burn for His Holy Spirit to comfort us. We burn for God's Word and we burn as a part of the creation that yearns for the New Heavens and the New Earth. And that burn is answered with more fire as we are warmed by the flame of God's love, the love of His People and the knowledge that we are Christ's forever.

:: Mal du siecle 1:09 PM |