The Anorexic Generation

"Could it be we're a generation of activists who are spiritual anorexics?"

I stumbled across this question while reading an article about chivalry and personal justice by Zach Hunter.  The question continues to reverberate in my mind, especially now that I am living in a "Christian" environment.  I look at the kids around me, all the things that they do with their time, all the causes they support, and all the groups that they fight for, and I wonder if they, like me, are sometimes starving.

We are reminded in Deuteronomy that "man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord" (8:3).  Could it be that even while we are raising money to feed the hungry and crossing oceans to heal the sick, we are starving and sickly ourselves?  What would we look like if our spiritual problems manifested themselves as physical ones?  Would we too be the blind man, the paralyzed man, the leper?

I'm asking this because I think that maybe we're all a lot less okay than we claim to be.  I think we're all a little more hurt and confused than we are willing to let on.  We hide behind our theological arguments and our worthy causes so people don't realize just how hungry we are.

Hungry for justice in our own lives.

Hungry to see the redemption we claim is so readily available.

Hungry for the peace that we somehow lost along the way.

It's time to own up, take off the mask, and admit our hunger.  Jesus told a parable of a man who threw a great feast and invited many guests, but they were all too busy to come.  Too busy with tasks and causes and volunteer campaigns, perhaps.  So instead, the man invited another group of people:  "Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame... Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full" (Luke 21, 24).

When the Lord calls out from His banqueting table, will you be too busy to answer or will you be willing to step up and say, "Lord, I am hungry.  Give me that which will satisfy"?

Comments

Popular Posts