Please sir, I want some more

The now famous line from Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist has become the cry of the American nation.  We seem to resonate with young Oliver who stands up and simply says, "Please sir, I want some more."  Unfortunately, in most cases we bear little resemblance to the hunger burdened Oliver.  Instead we are plagued by our insatiable consumerism and want for more.  Over the last several decades, consumerism has risen to alarming levels and in many cases has driven people into financial disaster.  The rampant spending habits of our culture is fueled by this constant desire for more, but where does it come from?

Now the obvious answer could of course be that our culture has imposed on us this buy-more mentality, but I think that this has only added to the already existing condition.  I have seen hints of this desire in my trips to poverty stricken Ethiopia.  After giving away things to the children there, there is often a communicated desire for more.  I think that this desire for more is something that is part of what it means to be human.  Or more accurately, the desire for more is the soul's awareness that something is missing.

If we go back to Genesis, we see that Adam was made in the very image of God.  Just imagine that.  Adam is made in the image of God!  Not only that, but he has this intimacy with God that is incredible.  He actually walks in the Garden with God.  Communicates with him face to face.  Adam doesn't desire anything else.  It is God who acknowledges that man needs something else, so He creates Eve.  After the fall, we see this immediate desire for more through the story of Cain and Abel.  This desire for more permeates the rest of human history.  We see it in the reign of Solomon and how eventually he fell into idol worship because of his desire for more gold and wives.  We see it in the conquests of empires and kings.  Then we see one man confront this desire for more and offers us a solution.  He calls it the "living water."

One of the most poignant moments in the ministry of Jesus is the conversation that He has with the Samaritan woman at the well.  He discusses this idea of the living water and that if you drink of it you will never thirst again.  Here is this idea of our need for more.  No matter how much water this Samaritan woman takes from the well, she will need to go back another time to get more.  She can't draw enough to satisfy her for the rest of her life, yet Jesus speaks of a water that does exactly that.  He is of course referring to himself here.  This is what I'm trying to get at.  The desire for more is really the desire for more of God.  Whenever we attempt to fill our desires with something else, it always leaves us wanting.  It can't satisfy because our soul knows what were made to be, that is the image of God.  Our soul tells us that we simply aren't satisfied and so we want more.  The amazing and joyful thing is that when we desire more of God, God grants that desire and continues to grant it.  Our soul rejoices in finding that which truly satisfies and freely drinks of it.  This constant filling up of our soul through God is what we were made for.  Let our desire for more be correctly oriented towards that which our soul truly craves.  May we look to God and merely ask for more of Him.