The Gospel Isn’t Meant To Be Strawberry Pie

Lord I want more of You
Living water rain down on me
Lord I need more of You
Living breath of life come fill me up

We are hungry
We are hungry
We are hungry for more of You
We are thirsty, oh Jesus
We are thirsty for more of you

This was one of my favorite songs in college. It summarized the cry of my heart. I wanted to know God more. I wanted to have a deeper relationship with Jesus (whatever that means). I wanted more passion.

But I think what I really wanted was some strawberry pie.

Strawberry pie is the perfect cap to an awesome meal. It’s sugary sweet goodness on top of graham cracker crust never fails to make me smile. I’m always hungry for strawberry pie.

Gospel hunger isn’t strawberry pie hunger, though.

Strawberry pie hunger is a craving from a mostly full belly. It’s a luxury. The sugar on top of an already satisfied life. You can be hungry for strawberry pie but if you don’t get your wish you aren’t going to die…you’ll just be slightly less happy.

In my opinion, that describes much of our hunger for the Lord. We’ve got things mostly together on our own, but we are hungry for a little Jesus to sweeten up our lives. And so we sing about being hungry for Jesus…

But I think we are really just singing for some strawberry pie.

And then the heavens become silent.

God is silent because the gospel isn’t meant to be a strawberry pie. God and his precious gospel will never simply be the dessert to your already cozy life. He can’t be. To happily take his place as a luxury in your life would be for him to bow a knee to his competitors. He can’t cease being God. Therefore, he can’t simply be your strawberry pie.

No, the gospel is for desperate people. As Martin Luther said,

The Gospel tastes best to those who lie in the straits of death or whom an evil conscience oppresses; for in that case “hunger is a good cook,” as we say, one who makes the food taste good. For when they feel their misery, the heart and conscience can hear nothing more soothing than the Gospel; for this they long, on this they are eager to feed, nor can they get too much of it…But that hardened class who live in their own holiness, build on their own works, and feel not their own sin and misery, do not taste this food. Whoever sits at a table and is hungry relishes all; however, he who is sated relishes nothing but is filled with loathing at the most excellent food. (Quoted from William Farley, Gospel Powered Humility, 69)

This is great news because we are desperate. We are broken. The problem, though, is that we like to convince ourselves and others that we are better off than we actually are. We like to pretend that all we really need is a strawberry pie type of gospel. We do this to our peril.

The gospel will never be sweet as a dessert. The gospel is your life. It is your sustenance. Without the gospel we die. The sooner we get this the sweeter our gospel will become.