Stay for the meal
Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu and key leader in India’s independence, blatantly proclaimed, “You Christians have in your keeping a document with enough dynamite in it to blow the whole of civilization to bits; to turn society upside down; to bring peace to this war-torn world. But you read it as if it were just good literature, and nothing else.”
As I read these words this morning, I am reminded of the beatitude to “hunger and thirst for righteousness”. Unsaid yesterday is that the meal has been fixed, the table set, the invitation given, and all that remains is our response to slow down and enjoy, take in the meal prepared by God for us. It will fill us, transform us (remember; you are what you eat), and sustain us for the opportunities and trials ahead. In allowing the Word of God to sustain and prepare us, what would be temptations become only trials as we refrain from sin and disobedience. But we must take time to enjoy the meal.
This reminds me of the young boy who saw the posters for the coming of the circus to town. He asked if he could go and his dad gave him money for the ticket to the circus. On the day of arrival, the boy found a place along the road and watched as the circus came to town. All the various clowns interspersed among the performers in their attire. The lion tamer alongside the cage of the lion. The elephants came parading past. Then some more clowns in their small cars and buses, stopping and entertaining the parade crowd. On and on came the circus, down to the big top and in they went. As the last of the circus entered the tent, the parade crowd moved to head to the entrance, but the little boy headed home, thinking he had seen the circus, but all he experienced was the “aroma or scent” of the circus. The real deal was waiting inside, but he missed it. Many are those who, as Gandhi said, read the Bible as a book of good stories, or maybe they attend church, but in both cases they never connect with the transforming power of God because they only watch the parade.
Take in the meal, stay for the circus (relationship building within the church) and see what the transforming power of God will do in your life. It will fill you in ways you never expected or have experienced by chasing other things.
Pressing on…
Ron Tipton, Senior Pastor
