In his book, A Hunger for God, John Piper writes: “we are less sensitive to spiritual appetites when we are in bondage to physical ones.”*

Fair enough. Here’s where I want to focus us.

Some of your physical appetites can be good. But they’re not your boss. Previous generations were much more used to denying or delaying physical appetites. Today we live in a time of comfort and convenience, and of seeking health and happiness. Granted, these are not necessarily within reach for everyone. But with a wide North American middle-class, more and more people are able to satisfy a wide-range of physical appetites.

Have you ever considered that this might make you less sensitive to your more important spiritual appetites?

I think of the prophet Elijah fleeing from the raging Jezebel. There was a great wind, and an earthquake, and a fire. But God’s voice came to him as “a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12, KJV).

There can be times when, if we’re not careful, our physical appetites and needs become so prominent in our lives and take so much of our attention, that we become numb to greater spiritual things and fail to hear the still small voice of God in our lives.

Your body is important. It’s good. It has needs.

But you also have a soul. One day, your body will be rotting in the ground. You soul will not.

“We are less sensitive to spiritual appetites when we are in bondage to physical ones.”

Organize your life so you are able to listen for God’s voice.

---

Notes:

–*John Piper, A Hunger for God: Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer (Wheaton, Crossway, 2013), 85.