The pictures of the third world countries of starving children burn images in our souls that simply cannot be erased. In a land of obesity, we sit on our plush couches and are moved when we see the poverty in other parts of the world. Is there anything more tragic than this?
A study by the United Nations shows there are 800,000,000 starving people on this earth with 25,000 of them dying each day from starvation. It is hard to imagine this as we look at the abundance of food in stores. Yet, the reality is about 20 people have starved to death since you started reading this article. Is there anything more tragic than this?
As much as it may surprise you, the truth is that there is something more tragic! There is another death, not of thousands, but of hundreds of thousands each day. It is from spiritual starvation! There is no country exempt from this starvation. It is not just in the poverty-stricken, third world countries, but in the most affluent nations on this earth. Europe is filled with houses of worship that are empty! God has been abandoned there in almost every form, and the same thing is happening in our own land. We are starving to death and don’t realize it.
The spiritual food is all around us. The New Testament has been translated into over 1,100 languages and less than 3% of the world’s population does not have access to the New Testament. Americans purchase 40,000 Bibles each day. The spiritual food is all around us.
Yet, we are starving to death! Whereas just decades ago most Americans had a working knowledge of the Bible, the average attendee at churches today leaves worship “feeling better” without having been fed the food God provided.
Those of you who are reading these words, take time to evaluate just how much you are being fed. The parable of the sower describes how the word entered the hearts of some, but then they “…are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity” (Luke 8:14). Are you one who attends worship and Bible class regularly only to get your life so busy that the word is pushed out from your heart? The word can be removed by things not inherently evil!
The difference in the two kinds of death by starvation is so obvious. We are moved by the one and ignore or deny the other. There is a famine in America and we are starving to death. Is there anything more tragic than this?