Collinsville-Troy CHURCH OF CHRIST

Are You Hungry?

Rob Bartanen

Have you thought of hunger as a blessing? We are privileged in America to be blessed with food and consider hunger for any length of time to be unbearable. We usually think of hunger in terms of food, but there is another hunger that is even more needful—a spiritual hunger. Jesus said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for shall be filled” (Luke 6:21).

Following are some things the Bible teaches that we should hunger for—

Hunger for God, our Creator. Proverbs 42:1 reads, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." There is within all a need and hunger for our Creator which often goes unrecognized. We fill our lives with other things to try to satisfy that hunger and find ourselves empty.

Hunger for truth. We are admonished, "Buy the truth, and sell it not" (Proverbs 23:23). No commodity should be valued as highly as truth. Jesus taught that truth has the power to free man from the bondage of sin, saying to his disciples, 'Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free' (John 8:32). Truth is not found in human dogmas, but Jesus prayed in behalf of the disciples, "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (John 17:17). Do you feed upon Bible-truth?

Hunger for Heaven. None will live in this world forever. The apostle Paul spoke of believers who "by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and eternal life" (Romans 2:7). Earthly gain pales into insignificance to that of God's heavenly promise to the faithful in Christ Jesus.

For what do you hunger the most? Heed Jesus' promise: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness: and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).

- Ronald Bartanen is a retired minister who for many years served the Lord's church in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.
- Article obtained from www.bulletingold.com

Why Would a Loving God...?

Renn Ferguson

One of the principal characteristics of God is His love. The apostle John wrote in 1 John 4:8, “anyone who does not lobe does not know God, because God is love.” (ESV) The child of God sees His love in their lives as well as throughout the scriptures.

Yet, the one who is not a child of God often fails to see His love. Why is that? Well, it really boils down to one major issue: hell. In their minds, God cannot possibly be loving if He damns someone to hell. At first glance hell and God's love seem to be at odds with one another. If we carefully study His word, however, we will see the full picture.

This viewpoint overlooks another principal characteristic of God, His justice. In Moses' song we read, “The Rock, his work is perfect, all his ways are justice.” (Deuteronomy 32:4) The fact of the matter is, we have all sinned and therefore a penalty must be paid for that sin (Romans 6:23). God is not unloving because He demands a just penalty be paid.

God is undoubtedly a loving God. This is evident in the sending of Jesus to die on the cross. In discussing this very idea Paul wrote, “It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26) Do you see what Paul is saying here? God's justice had to be satisfied. Yet, at the same time, He did not want men to be damned eternally. So, He sent His perfect, sinless, Son to pay that penalty for men. He did this to afford us the opportunity to be justified in Him and to spare us from eternal torment.

God is not an unloving God because some will spend eternity in hell. He has done all that He could, without defying His own character, to save man. He prepared the way of salvation for us. He offers it to all men freely. We can choose to reject it but we must be willing to accept the consequences of that choice.