Having a Hunger for God

I am traveling to SC to perform the wedding for my nephew Kyle and his bride Tiffany. What a delight to know that they have chosen well and desire to live for Christ as they begin their marriage. So here's a marriage meditation for them, not from my mind, not even specifically about marriage, but something that will help every marriage and every Christian to live a life worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The excerpt below is from Dr. John Piper's A Hunger for God. I spoke last week on having a hunger for God when I spoke on the value we have at New Song Church of delighting in and developing a passion for God Himself. But this passage is so much more eloquent than my words were, I had to pass them along to any who might come across this blog. Enjoy, be challenged, and begin the hunt for God.

The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable.

Jesus said some people hear the word of God, and a desire for God is awakened in their hearts. But then, 'as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life' (Luke 8:14). In another place he said, 'The desire for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful' (Mark 4:19). 'The pleasures of this life' and 'the desires for other thing'--these are not evil in themselves. These are not vices. These are gifts of God. They are your basic meat and potatoes and coffee and gardening and reading and decorating and traveling and investing and TV-watching and Internet-surfing and shopping and exercising and collecting and talking. And all of them can become deadly substitutes for God. [Pages 14-15].

Buy the book. Read the book. Read it slowly. Read it prayerfully. Let your hunger for God be fueled.

P.S. Kyle and Tiffany, after hearing all your friends speak about their relationship and passion for Christ, their love for you and the impact that you both have had on them, I am more proud than ever to be your uncle and uncle in-law. Follow Christ into a great marriage and future.