From Bowls to Bread: Training Our Spiritual Appetite

The cross doesn't just forgive us for choosing the bowl. It gives us back our hunger. It meets us in our dullness. It meets us in our restlessness. It meets us in our overfilled lives. And it begins to do something new. It it starts to loosen its grip on the things that don't satisfy us. It exposes the lie that they ever could and slowly, patiently teaches us how to desire again, how to hunger, how to have our taste buds trained not for what is quick or immediate, but for what is real. [01:02:37] (39 seconds)  #CrossRestoresHunger

The crowd doesn't leave because Jesus isn't enough. They leave because he's more than they know how to receive. And this is where the gospel is such good news. Because if the problem were just behavior, the solution would be simple. Try harder, redeemer. Eat less. Be more disciplined at the table. Be more grateful. The problem is deeper. Our loves have been shaped. Our appetites have been trained. We've become the kind of people who who don't even know how to hunger for what's good. So the answer isn't just restraint. The answer is transformation. [01:00:41] (36 seconds)  #TransformationNotRestraint

If Esau had paused, if he had waited, he wouldn't have ended up with less. He would have ended up with more. More than a full stomach, a future, a blessing, a place in God's story. That didn't feel real to him. Restraint does not lead to less joy. It protects your ability to experience a greater one. And the tragedy of the story, it's not just that Esau's hungry, it's that he's been so shaped by his hunger that when the moment comes, he doesn't even have the capacity to choose anything else. [00:51:27] (35 seconds)  #RestraintProtectsJoy

And because we're famished, if I don't have this now, I might die. And here's what's important to see, his hunger is not the problem. Hunger is good. Hunger is how God made us. The question is what do you do with it? Because there's a way of responding to hunger that that actually leads to more joy, not less. There's this kind of restraint, not as denial, but as trust, a willingness to wait, to receive, to not grab what is immediate so that you can enjoy what is deeper. [00:50:58] (30 seconds)  #WaitAndReceive

We stop receiving. We stop trusting. And we start managing our lives around keeping our bellies full. And the result's not life. It's a quiet dullness where we're constantly consuming and rarely satisfied, constantly filling, still restless, constantly tasting, but not enjoying. And eventually, we don't even know what we're hungry for anymore. And that's what makes us so dangerous because if you lose your hunger, you can be standing in front of the most beautiful thing and not even recognize it. [00:45:59] (40 seconds)  #FullButEmpty

But the good news, that's not the end of the story. Jesus doesn't stand at a distance waiting for you to fix your appetite. He comes to you as bread, as wine, as life, as the one who satisfies. And he doesn't just say, stop choosing the bowl. He says, come to me. And as you do slowly, patiently over time, he teaches you to hunger again. Desire what good, receive what's real until one day you'll sit at a table and for the first time, you're not too full, you're not too restless, you're not reaching for something else, you're just home. [01:06:51] (40 seconds)  #ComeToTheTable

Fasting reveals what controls us. It exposes us to the places where we've been living like, I need this to be okay, and it creates space, space to feel hungry again, space to notice what's going on underneath, space to turn towards God instead of reaching for something else. And alongside and before before I leave this, like, remember there's a scene where Jesus, the the pharisees are looking at Jesus' disciples and like, man, what's wrong with y'all? They don't fast. And Jesus says, well, they're with me, the bridegroom. They're not gonna fast, but they will fast when I leave. [01:04:34] (39 seconds)  #FastingCreatesSpace

And they feel like opposites, but they're not. They're the same problem because in both cases, our lives are being ruled by our stomachs. I'm constantly filling myself so I don't feel hungry or I'm driven by hunger like it's the only thing that matters. And in both cases, believing the same lie that what I need most can be satisfied by what I consume. This is gluttony. Gluttony isn't just about how much you eat. It's about what you're trying to do when you eat. [00:39:39] (39 seconds)  #GluttonyIsWhy