Blessing and Woe: Part 2

March 8

(Luke 6:21, 25 NIV) “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied… {25} Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.”

(Jeremiah 5:23-29 NIV) “But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts; they have turned aside and gone away. {24} They do not say to themselves, 'Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives autumn and spring rains in season, who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.' {25} Your wrongdoings have kept these away; your sins have deprived you of good. {26} "Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch men. {27} Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful {28} and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor. {29} Should I not punish them for this?" declares the Lord. "Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?”

(Matthew 5:6 NIV) “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

In a world filled with food, it is wrong that some of God’s children have nothing to eat. If we who are well fed would give up what it took for us to accumulate our bulging waist lines, we could eliminate hunger in our world. There is also a spiritual application here. If we overindulge on anything other than Jesus, we cease to hunger for God. Much of the church today is over fed. Instead of taking the gospel to the world, we constantly seek more teaching. We gorge ourselves at the latest Bible conference, but fail to exercise our faith and share the gospel. Many of us should be teachers by now, but instead we constantly demand to be fed more. We have become the “Fat Babies” that Amy Grant once sang about. Jesus says, “Woe to fat babies.” Woe to those who continually take in, but never give back to a culture that is starving. Maybe it’s time to change our diet and start working out. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day