Every person across time, and space is

propelled through life by a variety of

cravings. Or, to use a different word:
desires. These desires may be
immediate and seemingly superficial,
like the craving for food or the craving
for good marks on a test. Others are
closer to the core of our being: the
craving for love, belonging, or truth.
The universality of cravings provides
us with a profound point of
engagement and discussion with all
people no matter their spiritual
interest or religious affiliation. The
pursuit of our souls cravings can lead
each of us to discover the reason for
our existence in order to find a way to
resolve them.

As an evangelistic platform,
myCravings provides a framework for
a variety of entry points into both our
brokenness and our need for God.
Through cravings we can explore:
1. What are the cravings we have
and why do we have them,
2. What are the false and
unsatisfying ways we attempt
to resolve our cravings and
3. How to present the source of
true fulfillmentJesus.

CRAVINGS & THE GOSPEL

The way in which our cravings affect
us, and how the Gospel intersects with
those heart desires are complete. Just
as people are complex, so are our
cravings. Ultimately, the desires of the
human heart are designed to draw a
person to their greatest needa right
relationship with God. But, we are
flawed and so are our cravings. Simply
telling people that they should crave
Cravings Explained

As an evangelistic platform, myCravings provides a framework for a variety of entry
points into both our brokenness and our need for God. Through cravings we can
explore:

1. What are the cravings we have and why do we have them,
2. What are the false and unsatisfying ways we attempt to resolve our cravings and
3. How to present the source of true fulfillmentJesus.



"
Jesus or that Jesus is a merely a means
to fulfill cravings for love, peace or
power is erroneous. Here are a few
different lenses you can apply to the
framework of cravings that can help
different people understand their
need for God.

CRAVINGS AS EVIDENCE
FOR A GOD-CRAVING

Erwin McManus, author of Soul
Cravings describes cravings this way:

There are these cravings within me, though,
that pull on me like an addiction.
They have always been with me and have
even at times tormented me.
They go far deeper than any physical
addiction ever could.
Beyond my flesh, beyond my mind, beyond
my heart, there seems to be a place where my
deepest and most power cravings lie. And
they do not lie silently.
My soul, it seems, always desires and
demands, and no matter how I try to satisfy it,
it always craves more. (pp. 6-7, Soul Cravings
Prequel)

We try to fill ourselves with everything we can
grab, and yet there remains an inescapable
emptiness within. Even when weve looked
everywhere else, even when theres nowhere
else to look, we still somehow neglect to
consider the possibility that what our souls
long for is God. We cant take enough or make
enough to fill the hollowness within us. No
matter what we try or do we cant avoid the
void. (pp. 52, Soul Cravings Prequel)

Cravings are evidence that we are
designed for something more. Yes, we
are designed for meaning, and love
and achievement; however, the fact
that we crave those things points us to
an ultimate reality. Additionally, it is
our inability to come to a place of
satisfaction that points us to the
question, What if the central craving
of your soul, is a craving for God?

C.S Lewis in The Weight of Glory put
it this way:

A mans physical hunger does not prove that
man will get any bread; he may die of
starvation on a raft in the Atlantic. But surely a
mans hunger does prove that he comes of a
race, which repairs its body by eating and
inhabits a world where eatable substances
exist. In the same way, though I do not believe
(I wish I did) that my desire for Paradise proves
that I shall enjoy it, I think it a pretty good
indication that such a thing exists....

Exploring the universality of cravings
is a wonderful starting point for
conversation and exploration into the
spiritual dimension of our lives. Could
it be that a craving for love means we
were made for true unconditional
love? What if our craving for freedom
means that true freedom is possible?
Begin here, and then introduce the
eternal love and freedom (for
example) that is found in God alone.

CRAVINGS AS FALSE HOPES
OR IDOLS

Most of the cravings we have are good
things: a craving for love, meaning,


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success, or happiness. But what
happens to us when those good
things become the ultimate thing?
How do we deal with the reality of
their diminishing ability to satisfy?
What happens to us when we elevate
a created thing to the place of saviour
looking for justification, joy,
freedom and meaning?

Timothy Keller, the author of
Counterfeit Gods, explains it this way:

The very things upon which these people
were building all their happiness turned to
dust in their hands because they had built all
their happiness upon them. In each case, a
good thing among many was turned into a
supreme thing, so that its demands overrode
all competing values. But counterfeit gods
always disappoint, and often destructively so.
We think idols are bad things, but that is
almost never the case. The greater the good,
the more likely we are to expect that it can
satisfy our deepest needs and hopes.
Anything can serve as a counterfeit god,
especially the very best things in life. (Keller,
pp. xvii xvii)

Good things raised to an ultimate
height always disappoint. Do not be
fooled. Setting up any good thing to
the place of your greatest hope will
bring disappointment and ultimately
despair.

Keller asks with great clarity:

What makes us uncontrollably angry, anxious,
or despondent? What racks us with guilt we
cant shake? Idols control us, since we feel we
must have them or life is meaningless. (Keller,
p. xxii)

Is there something here too important to me,
something I must have at all costs? (Keller, p.
169)

The intense danger of these false
hopes or idols is that as we look to
them to give us meaning, hope, and
happiness, they inevitably fail to
deliver. In order to maintain any sliver
of happiness achieved, we must work
harder and sacrifice more to keep a
hold on its ever-diminishing
satisfaction. We soon find ourselves
making choices that require sacrifices
beyond what we are prepared to give.
These idols end up taking our life
rather than delivering the life they
promised.

Exploring the controlling power of
cravings and their inability to truly
satisfy is yet another way to use
cravings to bring people to an
understanding of their need for Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ is unique. He is able
to deal with the seemingly bottomless
appetite of our cravings. He also is
able to reorient our misplaced
affections from created things to
Himselfthe inexhaustible Creator.
He alone can satisfy us.

CRAVINGS & EVANGELISM

The best way to use the paradigm of
cravings evangelistically is to


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prayerfully explore your own personal
cravings.

o What desires drove you before
coming to know Christ?
o How did Christ reveal your need
for Him through these cravings?

Next, consider how God needs to
reorient your cravings right now.

o Are you finding satisfaction in
Jesus alone?
o What cravings have snuck into the
centre of your happiness and
become your practical saviour?

I am not asking whether or not you have rival
gods. I assume that we all do; they are hidden
in every one of us. The question is: What do
we do about them? How can we become
increasingly clear-sighted rather than
remaining in their power? (Keller. p. 167)

Repent of those things that you have
built your happiness upon. Turn to
Christ and rejoice in Him. Contemplate
and accept His love. Learn to love Him
more. With His love as the focus of
your hearts affections and life, you
will be free to love the people and
good things in your life rightly. Set
Christ in His rightful place and
establish Him as the true King of your
life and affections.

Start with these two considerations
concerning your own cravings and
from here you will be able to
understand the cravings that drive
those around you. Only as you are
experiencing Christs transformative
work in your own life will you be able
to authentically relate to the challenge
of helping others see their cravings
clearly and set Christ in His rightful
place.

Lastly, please note that as you engage
with people using cravings it may be
helpful to identify in your own mind
which of the two craving paradigms
you are working from. It can be
confusing if you jump between them
in one conversation.

May God firstly work in your own life
to help you be amazed at His creative
design of you and your cravings, and
secondly, continue to transform you
as you surrender your idols and find
complete satisfaction in Jesus alone.













Cravings Explained is an excerpt from My
Story.