One day several years ago, we visited the Louisville Zoo. While we were in the Giraffe House, a zoo worker came to feed one of the calves.  She carried in her arms two big containers.  Each appeared to hold a gallon of milk.  She also had a container that looked to be about a quart’s worth of apple juice.

She approached the giraffe who immediately began to search out the bottle.  It was hard to keep the calf under control because it wanted the bottle so badly.  When the worker was finally able to put the bottle in the giraffe’s mouth, the milk therein disappeared almost immediately. Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp, gone.

The worker then replaced the first bottle with the second, and it was gone just as quickly.  The apple juice was ingested even faster.  I was surprised at the giraffe’s incredible desire for food and the speed at which it dispatched the solution in the bottles.

Jesus was teaching his disciples how to follow Him.  He said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).  Do I desire a relationship with God to the same degree that that giraffe calf desired to be fed?  Is my appetite for God and His way in my life as insatiable as the appetite of that young giraffe?  Do I devour the things of God in the same way as that baby devoured her lunch?  When I open God’s Word, do I thirst for Him, or only go through the motions of study?  When I worship, am I actively seeking an encounter with God or will I settle for the religious ritual?  When I encounter needs around me, do I strive to be Jesus in the lives of people?

There is something to learn from that baby giraffe.  Drink it in.  Hunger and thirst after God.  If you do, Jesus promises that you will be filled.

Grace, Steve