Lord I want more of You
Living water rain down on me
Lord I need more of You
Living breath of life come fill me upWe are hungry
We are hungry
We are hungry for more of You
We are thirsty, oh Jesus
We are thirsty for more of you
This was one of my favorite songs in college. It summarized the cry of my heart. I wanted to know God more. I wanted to have a deeper relationship with Jesus (whatever that means). I wanted more passion.
But I think what I really wanted was some strawberry pie.
Strawberry pie is the perfect cap to an awesome meal. It’s sugary sweet goodness on top of graham cracker crust never fails to make me smile. I’m always hungry for strawberry pie.
Gospel hunger isn’t strawberry pie hunger, though.
Strawberry pie hunger is a craving from a mostly full belly. It’s a luxury. The sugar on top of an already satisfied life. You can be hungry for strawberry pie but if you don’t get your wish you aren’t going to die…you’ll just be slightly less happy.
In my opinion, that describes much of our hunger for the Lord. We’ve got things mostlytogether on our own, but we are hungry for a little Jesus to sweeten up our lives. And so we sing about being hungry for Jesus…
But I think we are really just singing for some strawberry pie.
And then the heavens become silent.
God is silent because the gospel isn’t meant to be a strawberry pie. God and his precious gospel will never simply be the dessert to your already cozy life. He can’t be. To happily take his place as a luxury in your life would be for him to bow a knee to his competitors. He can’t cease being God. Therefore, he can’t simply be your strawberry pie.
No, the gospel is for desperate people. As Martin Luther said,
The Gospel tastes best to those who lie in the straits of death or whom an evil conscience oppresses; for in that case “hunger is a good cook,” as we say, one who makes the food taste good. For when they feel their misery, the heart and conscience can hear nothing more soothing than the Gospel; for this they long, on this they are eager to feed, nor can they get too much of it…But that hardened class who live in their own holiness, build on their own works, and feel not their own sin and misery, do not taste this food. Whoever sits at a table and is hungry relishes all; however, he who is sated relishes nothing but is filled with loathing at the most excellent food. (Quoted from William Farley, Gospel Powered Humility, 69)
This is great news because we are desperate. We are broken. The problem, though, is that we like to convince ourselves and others that we are better off than we actually are. We like to pretend that all we really need is a strawberry pie type of gospel. We do this to our peril.
The gospel will never be sweet as a dessert. The gospel is your life. It is your sustenance. Without the gospel we die. The sooner we get this the sweeter our gospel will become.
Those songs rather irritate me. The reason is we are indwelt with the Holy Ghost and we have all of God we need or will get right now. What those songs should be crying out for is “Lord help me submit to you!”, “Lord help me to repent!”. The connection or lack of is on us. If we want to see a move of God we need to take a look at revivals like the one at Asbury College in 1970, or the ones in whales in the early 1900’s. If you want more of God take a look at… Read more »
Mark, I see what you are saying. And I have my fair share of annoyance at some of trite lyrics of worship songs. But I’m not ready to say that such cries for “more of the Lord” don’t have their place. For one, I see many Psalms that sounds this way. And even in the New Testament I see Paul saying something similar in Philippians 3. Also, I don’t know that we can ALWAYS say that a lack of “connection” is because of us. At the end of the day it is absolutely true that it is our sin and… Read more »
I think you’re both right! Group hug! Actually, I was a tiny, wee, small bit, put off by the post. While I agree we all have the Holy Spirit who are born again, and also agree, that sometimes we are praying for just a little more goodness; still, there are many of us going through difficulty and remembering how desperately we need Jesus to be enough for us. We’re not getting any pie right now, much less a two meat plate at BBQ joint. So some of us are already not asking for pie, as much as we’re asking to… Read more »
Not all needs and lives are comfy. I serve a people who range from despair, pain, broken, glad, filled with joy. Songs like these are helpful to some, maybe boring to others but I also serve a people who know that others are hurting and being encouraged by such a song.
A me church (musically, in context with the subject of the post) is not a church I want.
But that is me – and the church I serve.
[* the comments by this person are not to reflect the lives of any other persons in any other churches]
Pie is overrated! Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Feast on Christ. “All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” Too many Christians today are looking for Cherry… Read more »
Agreed, Chris.
Great word, Mike.