A man shares his days with hunger, thirst and cold, with the good times and the bad, and the first part of being a man is to understand that.”
                    –Louis L’Amour  (Galloway)

       “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”
                    –Psalm 42:1 (NIV)
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          “God blesses those people who want to obey him more than to eat or drink.  They will be given what they want!”  –Matthew 5:6 (CEV)

     Are you hungry?  Are you thirsty?  Ah, then the question must be, how hungry? how thirsty are you?  One more thing that should be brought into consideration is what is it that you are currently eating?  We all thirst and hunger for something, but not everything is good for us.  Someone wrote, “Your diet is not only what you eat.  It is what you watch, what you listen to, what you read, and the people you hang around.  Pay attention to what you feed your soul, not just your stomach.”  Stuffing your mouth with the wrong stuff will curb your spiritual appetite.
     As Christians we should be hungry for the things of God and that includes righteousness.  The sinner is destitute of righteousness, but Christ is the perfect righteousness for all His people.  Why then do we linger at the table of the devil?  Why do we thirst after the forbidden and the things that would hinder our walk and our relationship with God?  I am not speaking of “legal righteousness” which is imparted when we are justified.  But what about implanted righteousness?  We are now alive in Christ and dead men do not hunger.  Hunger proceeds from life.  Hunger is a sense of lack.  When we are born again, we have the spiritual hunger that follows the new birth.  Thomas Watson declares, “The appetite is as well from God, as the food.”
     We should be hungry for the things of God.  Our hunger shows the character of a godly man, so now another question:  are you hungering?  Watson tells us, “Desire is the best evidence of a Christian.”  Let that sink in.  If you are not hungry for the things of God, not thirsty for the fountain that flows from the inner spring of the Spirit, then it might be good to check your position.  As we eat food daily for nourishment so should hunger daily for spiritual food.  Get this, unless we hunger after righteousness we cannot obtain it.
     Take a moment to consider the reasons why people do not hunger and thirst after righteousness.  One reason might be that they have never felt any emptiness.  They are full of self-righteousness like the Pharisees, they have bloated stomachs.  Others, in a similar fashion, think they are well enough without it.  “I’m saved” they say, and that is enough.  They complain about the lack of this or that, the lack of answered prayers, the lack of God meeting their needs, but never about the lack of righteousness.  They would rather sleep than eat as Peter states in 2 Peter 2:3.  They refuse good food when placed in front of them and would rather run to the calorie counter of useless or false teachings.  Some may come for the garnishing, the entertainment, the fellowship and not partake of the food.  While others, I would have to call them pseudo-Christians, would rather play in the streets of the world, or they prefer vain things rather than the things of God, and then, you’ve seen them even in church, they prefer their phone to the food offered from the pulpit.  There is one more group, those who prefer disputes rather than the practice of piety.  They will argue over the leftovers; they would rather pick bones that eat of the heavenly manna presented to them.  
     Oh that we would have that deep hunger for the things of God.  Oh that we could just have one more bite of His presence, His food, His water, His righteousness.  We have the opportunity to have our hunger filled.  Do not be like those the psalmist mentions, “They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.” (Psalm 107:5, NIV)  What happened, they missed the feast for one reason or another.

God never said believing in him would ensure your life didn’t have struggles. He never guaranteed that you’d be without pain or suffering. All he guaranteed you was that during those times, he would be there with you.”
                    –G. Michael Hopf  (The Last Ride)

       “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
                    –Hebrews 12:3 (NIV)
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               “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through…and I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”
                          –unknown (often attributed to Jim Reeves, claimed by A.P. Carter)

Look at the world around you, in the news, on social media, while you drive, in the stores…  What in the world is going on?  Voices, hundreds of them, most of them are foolish.  Sounds…where is the quietness?  What is happening to you on life’s journey, and remember it is a journey, not a settling place.  Times of rest and relaxation are good and needed, but the travel must continue.  Comfort or character?  Ease or the Lord’s will?  Step out, time to move on, back out into the wilderness.  The wilderness of the world.
     Watch out, for it seems that with each step a jumping cholla leaps out to claw at you.  But is it really cholla?  Dust abounds, the mouth again is dry, the lips parched.  You’re not long out of the time of rest, and yet, it seems that weariness is already seeping into your body again.  Why continue?  It’s the same over and over:  failure, weariness, despondency, blahs, the voice in your mind whispering, “stop, it’s no use, quit!”  The whisperer continues, “Quit, quit…”  But somehow, with strength from the Holy Spirit you take another step.  The bone-weary body moves, the tired aching feet lift and another step is taken, then another, then another.  One more, then one more–that is the means of survival–one more step.  Reach out, the Spirit will grasp your hand—one more, another step.
     You have been facing the physical, mental, and emotional struggles of the journey.  You have been refreshed at the oasis or at the wells along the way, but now you find yourself, again, in the midst of struggle.  The struggle of mind and spirit.  Remember that the world and the enemy of your soul wants to bring desolation and then death.  The fangs of the enemy lash out at us; the thorns along the way grip and tear at the flesh.  We are strangers in this land, struggling through, often bleeding and torn.  The sights and sounds seek to tear the life from the soul.  This world, this enemy, is cruel; bringing desolation, and yes, you’ve seen them along the way, the bleached bones of the many that have given up and quit.  They become snatched up, entangled in the clutches of its thorns, and listen…in the distance, the devil laughs with glee.
     Hear his cackle?  He laughs when the children of God are pricked by a thorn, or when the hidden serpent strikes at one of God’s own.  The sting of the scorpion brings a snarling grin to his face, and he sits back in the shadows with a smirk.  Another fallen?  Many get caught up with the things Satan sends our way–the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, the snares and obstacles along the way.  One more step…  Don’t get snared, trapped, or caught up with the things on the journey, but look to your Guide for help–the wonderful Holy Spirit.  He will warn us of danger, put salve on our cuts, pull thorns from our flesh, and will direct us to the next tank of water.  One more step…
     The devil, that enemy of our souls, wants to see our bones bleached white in the sands of desolation like so many he had snared before.  He wants to gloat that another has dropped along the way.  Take one more step…  Look up, keep your focus on Christ, faith and hope will see us through.  The reason the Lord sent us to the wilderness was not for us to succumb to the devil, but to develop character and as Forrest Johnson said, “Everyday the wilderness shared some new experience.”  Don’t worry, don’t be anxious, for the Master, at the right time, will bring relief and strength to the weary soul.  Don’t listen to the many voices along the way; don’t listen to the voice of the devil.  Just take one more step…one more step.
          “I have a loving Savior up in glory-land,
          I don’t expect to stop until I with Him stand…
          He’s waiting now for me in heaven’s open door,
          And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.”
One more step…

You must know how to use the tools given you.”
                    –D.C. Adkisson  (The True and Unbiased Life of Elias Butler)

       “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.”
                    –1 Corinthians 4:2 (NIV)
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     Why, why do we insist on living by the world’s ideas, philosophies, and systems?  Yes, I understand that we live in the world, and therefore, we must to a certain extent live according to the culture in which we live, BUT, but we must have a Biblical worldview in which to live, view, and understand how we are to live.  Paul writes:

               We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
                         –1 Corinthians 2:12 (NIV)

     There is no reason or excuse to say that the world controls us.  No, as John Owens wrote, “A spiritual attitude of mind is no hindrance to secular work:  even though a pot is full of chaff (the secular) you can still pour a lot of water (the spiritual) into the same place.  In fact, as Christians we should make the workplace a better place for we are to be salt and light.  We are not of the world, we do not view the world as those in it do, we do not seek the things of the world, yet we live here and thus must impart our abilities, gifts, and light to a darkened world.
     Why do some Christians then insist on being part of the world?  Paul refers to them as carnal Christians.  We no longer continue to live on a carnal level.  The Christian who desires to do so lives a life of perpetual conflict and repeated defeat.  But know this, we have the Spirit of God within us to help us overcome, live a joyful and victorious life in the midst of this wicked and evil world.  Alan Redpath said, “Every Christian–no matter how weak and feeble, how poor and helpless, perhaps with a sense of utter inability and frustration–whatever his own personal feeling may be, is indwelt by the Third Person of the Trinity.”
     How then do we live, survive?  There are two major components to preserving one’s spirituality while living and working in secular matters.  First there must be a time set apart in the day for prayer and Bible reading, and even more for some Bible study.  The spiritual man must be fed properly, or the carnal man will hunger more.  This time of prayer and reading must be regular.  I cannot emphasize that enough–regular, not haphazard, not willy-nilly, not when you feel like it.  If not, other things will crowd it out of your life.
      As people of the Spirit we should be led and guided by the Holy Spirit.  We should, in fact, we must be sensitive to His leading and His character.   We must seek to serve Him with all that is within us, not the things of the world.  That involves a spiritual attitude, not a carnal one.  Seek to have an earnest desire to spend more time with God, spend more time seeking and doing His well.  Do not become friends of the world.
     I like the way Dr. Henry Harbuck translates this verse, “Now we have not received the spirit (inner mind or disposition) of this age [that is of a human source], but the [Holy] Spirit Who comes from God, so that we may gain insight into the blessings and gifts that are freely given to us by God.”  Oh, Lord, let us seek You more earnestly as we live and walk in this pagan world.