It is not difficult to know when my children are not feeling too well healthwise. Just watch their attitude towards food. When we notice that we have to force them to eat, especially their favourite meal, you know that something is wrong somewhere. I have come to understand that hunger is a sign of health.
Friend, in this fast-paced society and eventful season, it is very easy to lose grounds spiritually without knowing (Mark 6:31). It is very easy to go a week or month without remembering when last you really had a swell time with God in your closet. It is quite easy to go days without genuine encounter with God’s word but mere recycling of old reads.
Now that “everybody” speaks Christianese and prays in tongues, everyone seems to have a word from the Lord, an opinion about what is happening in the society etc., there should be a way that one can truly monitor his spiritual health (1 Corinthians 10:12). You cannot judge your spiritual health by social media activities or what you used to know or be. There is a need for thorough examination (2 Corinthians 13:5).
Just like in the physical, there are signs of spiritual ill health. One of such is loss of appetite for spiritual things. When prayers, study of the word, listening to spiritual songs and messages are no longer ‘your thing’, or you feign busyness and cook up all manner of excuses, it is a sign of ill health. Lack of hunger is a sign of sickness (Psalms 42:1-2). If you do not study your Bible, you should not feel guilty. You should feel hungry.
Our soul must constantly hunger and thirst after God and the things of the Spirit (Psalms 63:1, Matthew 5:6). Your growth stops where your hunger stops. Hunger is a divine mechanism put in us to trigger growth and development. A healthy person responds well to stimulus. What moves you? Does the word of God move you (Isaiah 66:2)? Does what breaks the heart of God break your own heart?
A healthy person has a drive; he is not sluggish. He is running with a vision and burning with a passion (John 20:1, 4, 11, Romans 12:11). A healthy person walks with the right people (Psalms 1:1-3). Your true company is that group of people that you are free with; if it is believers, you are healthy. If it is unbelievers, you are sick.
‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria