Teaching Children about Spiritual Hunger

I shook the milk jug with my fake milk--cornstarch in water--toward the kids at children's church last Sunday. "The Bible is like milk," I declared. "It nourishes you--it feeds you--so you can grow." The children stared at me waiting for more. They're such sweet children and want to know the truth. They were expecting me to explain this mystery of how the Bible feeds us. "It's like food for the spirit," I expounded. I picked up my big Bible and held it up to add clarity to the concept. They continued to stare. Some had heard this concept before and relaxed at the familiarity of it. Others continued to stare blankly. Wonder what they were really thinking. I just can't guess.

Then the idea came to me. "How many have ever been hungry. How many know that feeling in your stomach called hunger pangs." Surprisingly, a few didn't raise their hands. (Ah, America. We're well-fed.) "Well," I continued, "when you were a baby you learned what it feels like to be hungry. You felt that pain in your stomach, you cried, you were fed some milk and felt all full and good inside. You found out that when you had that pain in your stomach that you were hungry and you wanted milk. You don't even remember it, because it was when you were a tiny baby." They like this. Kids like hearing about when they were babies because they can't remember it.

"Well, we don't seem to learn so easily what it feels like when our spirits are hungry and we have to teach ourselves to know. Sometimes you will feel lonely or kind of empty inside. You might feel like something isn't quite right or that something is missing. THAT means your spirit is hungry. You need to spend time reading or hearing the Word of God--the Bible. Or you can remember verses you have learned. You need to spend time with God--praying or worshiping and listening." OH! I could see the look of understanding spreading across many of their tiny faces. Because at five or six or seven or eight years old, most have already felt this spiritual hunger. They didn't know what it was. I hope that they have learned what it is and learn to feed their spirits before they get used to the feeling of being hungry all the time--and think it's normal or inevitable.