I have a core value to live out my life in such a way that it causes hunger in people for the truth.

I see the life of Jesus.
I see the crowds that gathered around Him.
I see the impact that He made.

What was it about His life that drew people to Him?

How was it that He can live in such a degree of holiness yet people who lived contrary to His lifestyle still hung around Him?
As Eric Johnson would say, “He still got invited to the party.”

Even Scripture says of Jesus, “That he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.”

He looked just like an ordinary man.
There’s nothing in His appearance that displayed that He was someone special.

Here’s what I believe was happening.
There was a cry in the heart of the crowds for the authentic because the way they have lived was not working. Somewhere deep inside them, there was this knowing, there was this voice shouting, “There has to be a better way.”

So the people gathered around Him.
Crowds came to see this man, Jesus, because they’ve tasted and they’ve seen what He has and they want it.

There was something in the life of Jesus that was an answer to what they have been searching for.

Jesus walked this earth in such a way that stirred the hearts of people. In a place where religion had quenched the love of the Father, Jesus came to replenish it. In a place where they were bombarded of the do’s and the dont’s of religion, Jesus came to give them rest.

They were starving for what was authentic and the Bread of Life came to fill their hunger.
What darkness has filled, He came that He may occupy it.

On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled for the legalization of gay marriage. Saturday morning, I started weeping. I wasn’t weeping because the country made a decision that contradicted the values of heaven. I wept because I saw this as the world’s outcry for the authentic but instead they were fed by a counterfeit. The world was hungry for righteousness but they have their answer from somewhere else. They have settled.

Because to the hungry every bitter thing is sweet.
This whole thing isn’t about the issue of marriage equality.
This is an issue of the human heart.

There will always be a hunger in the hearts of man for the truth, the question is where are they getting their satisfaction from?

The degree in which the counterfeit occupies a room is an indication of the degree in which the authentic needs to occupy it.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness.”

What’s interesting to me is when Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, He was talking to the sinners, to the outcasts, to the rejects, to the sick, to the unworthy, to the untouchables of society. After His sermon, a leper approached Him for healing. This leper was hungry for something. He was desperately needing to be healed of leprosy and Jesus fulfilled his hunger.

What if this is the world’s way of crying out for righteousness?
What if this was their way of showing us their actually looking for something deeper but they haven’t found it yet?

Jesus didn’t bring transformation by changing the political system.
He came and invited people into an encounter with the Truth.

Jesus tells the same crowds of people who had followed Him for days, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

If we’re actually called the Righteousness of God in Christ, this is not a moment to react.
This an opportunity to respond.

The world is hungering for righteousness.
They’re crying out for the authentic.
They’re dehydrated.

Our life lived is supposed to be the revelation of Christ here on the Earth. If that’s the case, our life lived are meant to draw people. We are meant to live in such a way that it causes people to be hungry for the authentic.

I want to live my life in such a way that when people look at me, hunger would begin to rise inside of them.

Hunger for the truth.
Hunger for the authentic.
Hunger for what’s always been inside their heart.

A court can make something legal, but if it violates the law in the heart there will always be a voice inside the heart of humanity that shouts, “Something is not right.”

Bill Johnson said, “There is this passion for the authentic that supersedes my personal need to be right.”

That’s why Zacchaeus, a thief, climbed a tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus and was more than enough to welcome Him for dinner at His request.

Homosexuality can be legalized but it still violates the law of the heart.
And this is not exclusive to homosexuality alone.

Sin is anything that violates design.
Fornication, stealing, lying, gluttony, hate, murder, divorce, idolatry, you name it.

And any violation of design demeans its created value.
If you are to take a Ferrari off-roading, it would not only be a violation of its design, it would demean its created value.

But when the desire for the truth and the authentic becomes greater than the need to be right, transformation will begin to take place.

The way I see it, the world is blessed because they’re hungry and Jesus promised that those who are hungry will be filled.

And as Ambassadors of Christ, we have the opportunity to be Jesus to the world.
As Jesus was to the world when He walked this earth, we, the Church, is to be for the world today.

We are the righteousness of God in Christ.
We are the light of the world.
We are the hope of glory here on the earth.

We are not this little light IN the world.
We are the light OF the world.

We can live is such a way that doesn’t violate who we are and still draw people who live contrary to our value system.

Jesus did it.
So can we.

Let our life lived cause people to hunger for something that’s always been inside the heart of humanity.
Because when we walk into a room, He walks into the room.