A woman named Martha welcomed (Jesus) into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t You care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.” The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”  Luke 10:38-42

Martha’s choice: Good      Mary’s choice: Best

Last time we talked about common reasons that believers have wimpy appetites when it comes to hungering and thirsting for God: We know how this works in the natural. Our bodies were designed to require nourishment, so it’s normal for us to feel hungry—unless our appetites have been suppressed by sickness or quenched by something we ate previously.

The spiritual sicknesses we covered last time were things like unbelief and unforgiveness. Today I want to look at quenching our spiritual appetites and what we can do about that.

Spiritual snacking can ruin our appetite for Jesus—We’re talking about allowing other things or people or even duties and obligations to come before communing with Jesus. These things may be perfectly OK, even good stuff. But their result has the same effect on our appetites for Jesus as being in sin.

You see, it’s part of our nature to want to alleviate the limitless hunger for God we were born with—but often we try to satisfy this hunger without God or in ways that simply make him PART OF THE EQUATION rather than the ANSWER.

The truth is, God has a banquet prepared for us—a feast of His presence—but we won’t have the appetite for it if we have been satisfying hunger with something else.  Often these things are neutral or even good things that have simply stolen our focus. Even good things like Martha’s service—church activities or disciplines, can diminish our hunger for the best thing as Mary knew and Martha discovered in today’s verses.

Often we fail to do this because we get our eyes on something else, something that seems more pressing—or more appealing—than the meal set before us. But the idea is for our hearts to burn with a ravenous desire for God in all circumstances.

Are the ones who’ve chosen the best thing?—ones who’ve made the right choice?—ones who are hungry for God no matter what? Or have we allowed something other than Jesus to become the focal point of our desire?

I can’t tell you exactly what ‘spiritual snacking’ exists in your life; but the Holy Spirit can. If this meditation has touched you in some way, ask God to search your life and reveal the good things that are getting in the way of the best.