World Wide Hunger

Have you ever met a gull that wasn’t hungry or willing to swoop in and steal your lunch?

Circling lobster pots outside the food processing plant in Prospect Harbor in the hope of snatching tasty bait or bits of lobsters parts, these gulls remind us of unrelenting hunger. We all may appreciate some degree of hunger pangs, but there are far too many people unsure of their next meal. Starvation is a much too prevalent and disgraceful problem in our world.

However, there is also a deep gnawing in every soul.

Curious and needy, we pursue material things, recreational activities, and intellectual pursuits in order to satisfy desires, to achieve some sense of self-fulfillment, and to persuade others of our worth. Sometimes our lives are like storage containers…full of stuff that has no ultimate benefit. Our accomplishments don’t alleviate discontent or a hunger for something truly enduring, more grand and meaningful. What do we really need? What will relieve and bring peace to restless spirits?

Jesus said that seeking after righteousness “will fill” our emptiness. (Matthew 5:6) He spoke of seeking after God and what is right in His eyes. In some ways that thought is disconcerting because “there is none righteous, no not one.” No matter how righteous within ourselves, we know we do not and can not always do right. We fall short of being just, gracious, generous, nonjudgmental, consistently kind, and humbly, lovingly following God.

Jesus told us if we seek, we will find life’s answers in him. He is the Way to connect us with God and God’s righteousness through faith in the powerful ability of his saving grace.

We don’t need to circle around like the gulls and snatch at whatever this world can offer us. Jesus is the Bread of Life, who will satiate the hunger and quench the thirst of our souls. If we trust him to do so, he, in his perfection, will become our righteousness, make us right with God, and satisfy our starving souls with meaning, purpose, hope, and peace.