Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Spiritual Hunger

Which would you rather have: 1) To be able to know the richness and fullness in a relationship with God for five years then lose it and hunger for it for the rest of your life or, 2) Never have a rich relationship with God at all and never have a hunger for it?

Think about it. Which would you choose, if you had to choose one?

6 comments:

  1. I would choose option 1. To have the relationship is better than not having the relationship.

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  2. I think this is a loaded question. We're all empty and hungry without God, but it's only those who realize it's Him they crave, who get saved.

    Here's the crux, from a Biblical (and personal) perspective. If I truly knew the "richness and fullness in a relationship with God," then leaving it would not be accidental; it would have to be a conscious denial of Jesus' salvation, which, according to several passages in the NT, would put me in a much, MUCH worse position (Hebrews 6:4-6 says it would be IMPOSSIBLE to come back).

    On the other hand, if I never had a yearning for God or a relationship with Him, my final state, regardless the quality of my life on this earth, would be the same as in the first case: eternal damnation.

    Either way, the result is the same: we spend all of eternity UTTERLY SEPARATED from God.

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  3. I don't believe eternal damantion awaits those who don't have a rich, full relationship with God. I think God chooses to reveal himself to whom he chooses...it doesn't mean everyone else is eternally damned.

    I like the statement "It is better to love and lost than to never love at all." I would choose the first...the hunger for God is make one alive and passionate.

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  4. Perhaps I misunderstood option 1, but I understood it to mean rejecting one's salvation. There are several scriptures that state, without equivocation, that to reject salvation is WORSE than never to have had it at all. "It's better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all" does not apply to Jesus or His plan of salvation.

    There are a lot of "feel good" doctrines out there, to give hope of a Heaven to those who do not accept Jesus into their hearts. But while God is ultimately the Judge, there is no basis to believe that the unsaved go anywhere else but to eternal damnation. This is a major part of our motivation in preaching the Gospel. Satan would have us get complacent, believing that even if we don't tell someone about Jesus, that they might still make it. It's akin to failing to tell a blind man that he's about to walk off a cliff.

    "Narrow is the way, and few there be that find it."

    "For if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner and the ungodly appear?"

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  5. To me, this question asks whether or not you are willing to have a rich full relationship with God or not. I think many people do not want a relationship with God. Instead they settle for an academic understanding of God or a religious acceptance of God...but no relationship.

    When one brushes close to God, He creates a longing, a yearning for more that never goes away. You can't settle for the academic understanding of God once you've tasted closeness.

    I would rather have a relationship with Jesus than settle for knowledge about God. I would rather long for a touch from Jesus than be comfortable with a head knowledge of Jesus and all things religious.

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  6. Ah, now I understand where you were going with your questions. :)

    "I would rather have a relationship with Jesus than settle for knowledge about God. I would rather long for a touch from Jesus than be comfortable with a head knowledge of Jesus and all things religious."

    Amen! Only one will save you! :)

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