When we were younger and treated to a special dessert, my brother and I typically held a conversation like this, started by whoever thought of it first: "You know what this tastes like?" one of us would ask. "No, what?" said the other. "This tastes like . . . MORE!" And together, with huge smiles on our faces, we held out our plates for another piece. The dessert was so good that even though we were full, we had to have more!
"Another distinguishing feature of gracious affections," says Jonathan Edwards, "is that the more they are heightened the greater will be the spiritual appetite and longing of the soul." As knowledge of the love of God grows, love for God deepens: it tastes like more!
Edwards makes four observations: "First of all, spiritual enjoyments are such that those who find them realize they are incomparably satisfying. Second, spiritual enjoyments satisfy the expectation of the appetite. The more they are anticipated, the more they are enjoyed. Third, the gratification and pleasure of spiritual enjoyments is permanent. Fourth, spiritual good always satisfies the soul to whatever degree the soul is able to enjoy it. There is always room enough for the soul to expand itself, until it becomes like an infinite ocean. Spiritual good is so satisfying that the more the soul tastes of it and knows its nature, the more it will desire"-for more!
"O Jesus . . . we turn unfilled to you again. . . . We taste you, ever-living Bread, and long to feast upon you still; we drink . . . our thirst to quench, our souls to fill." Amen.
See God's love, power, presence, and purpose in your life every day!