Starved and Thirsty

I sit here completely full, 100% satisfied. Every hunger pain removed. Every parched part of my tongue saturated with moisture.

I ate at Bucco de beppo tonight. For those of you who are familiar, let me indulge. It's an Italian restaurant served family style. That's right, perfect portions for hobbits and youth pastors alike.

A swimming pool sized bowl of salad, a 12-inch loaf of bread, another swimming pool-sized bowl of pasta so big Michael Phelps couldn't finish 1 lap. Another Pacific Ocean-sized bowl of spaghetti, a sheetrock-sized slab of pizza and dessert to follow.......all for one table.

And then it hit me. No, not that. That most likely won't hit me until sometime tomorrow when it all digests. Something else hit me: Christians to the exact, stinkin' thing.

We eat and we hoard and we stuff and we claim and we dig in and we chew and we bite and we swallow and repeat. We do it with the Word of God. We do it with the forgiveness of God, the grace of God, the love of God, the Salvation of Jesus Christ.

We fill ourselves so much of that truth that we are lying to the world around us.

The message we preach is Jesus Christ is what I need. Get your own plate! If you're lucky, I'll give you some crumbs.

We abnoxiously and selfishly translate Christ's mission when He says, "I have come so that you may have life and have it UNTIL YOU ARE FULL." (JOHN 10:10 WORTHY VERSION)

No.

Jesus was talking about sheep. He is the gate. The sheep enter the pen through the gate: Christ. And Isaiah 53:6 draws this problem: "We all, like sheep, have gone astray." (NIV)

Since we're all sheep, none of us better than the other, I suppose God wants to save us and then help others find the way. He wants to feed us and then help those around us locate the food too!

TO ALL CHRISTIANS, STOP STUFFING YOURSELF AND START SERVING OTHERS!

-NW