Spiritual Spectators

A few years ago one of our boys ran on the youth cross-country team. Our family often went to the meets and noticed that the same thing happened at the end of every race. When the runners were finished, they’d gulp down water. Think for a minute of the funny looks I would have gotten if, as a spectator, I was standing there chugging the water. The runners were the ones who had been generating a thirst and naturally were thirstier than any spectator would’ve been. They had worked hard and deserved the refreshment. In life, when we’re only spectators, we quickly get out of shape and become lazy and complacent. In doing so, we don’t generate an intense appetite for food or a strong thirst for water within our bodies. It’s only when we have a true passion, a yearning, and a goal in mind that we will stretch ourselves, go the extra mile and become hungry and thirsty. We must simply choose to put on our running shoes and get out on the course. In a similar way, scripture exhorts us to crave the things of God. Peter writes, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). These words aren’t for spiritual spectators, they’re for participants. We are to desire and long for the things of God as intensely as a baby desires milk. To those of us with children, this is a vivid picture. I remember how unsettled and unsatisfied my boys were before they drank the milk and how peaceful and content they were afterward. Are we like this with the things of God? Are we even hungry for him, let alone crave him? A certain peace and contentment will always follow when we drink from his living water.