August 30, 2012
Transformational Thought
I love to eat, but I am very picky, which Martine hates. I love buffets where, for a reasonable price I can sample several items to find the one I like. But, have you noticed that at buffet tables all the cheap and less scrumptious distractions are offered first? The restaurant hopes you’ll fill up on these so you’ll have less room and a smaller appetite for the valuable items at the end of the buffet table.
We need food several times every day in order to survive. Unfortunately, in all countries including the U.S. where most are well-fed and overweight, we are actually starving. You see, we’re starving spiritually! Why? It’s because life operates pretty much the same way as a buffet. Many fillers and imitations of true sustenance are offered up front where you can grab them quickly without waiting to order. There’s no need for patience as they are cooked and brought to you by a waitress. Meanwhile the really fulfilling, life-sustaining, memorable selections are farther back on the table. These are the offering that take patience, self-contol, and effort to find and digest.
Satan pushes many tempting but superficial options in your face. He makes it easy to be lazy and grab what you think is nourishment. Even though his buffet has many options, none of them will satisfy unless your main staple and foundation is GOD and His Holy BIBLE. And like food, you need to be taking it in everyday. Even though we are well fed at times, we might still struggle with anxiety, depression, anger, pornography, addictions, insecurity, other people’s opinions, sleeplessness, guilt, shame, indecisiveness, and … you fill in your issue. Be mindful that like physical food, we need spiritual food regularly, and in good-sized doses. God is eternal and all-powerful, able to meet all our needs all the time, but we need to come and eat at His table.
God invites us throughout Scripture to come to Him for all our needs. In Isaiah 55, God invites the thirsty. His invitation is very clear and simple. Come, then Listen, then Seek. “Come” means both feet are in, not ready to run the other way at the drop of a hat. “Listen” means really taking it in and letting it examine and reshape your heart. “Seek” is pursuing the goal relentlessly, as if you lost a $10,000,000 lottery ticket.
Do you Come, Listen, and Seek God in this way? Why not? If you aren’t pursuing God, you are pursuing the fillers, the counterfeits. So don’t be surprised at what you are reaping – the baggage you are gaining and carrying while feeling starved.
Today, when feeling compromised, STOP! Examine what fills you up. Come to the Father. Listen and Seek the Mind of Christ. As Isaiah writes, seek the Lord while He is near. This is not because God will move away … but because we do things to place distance between ourselves and God. And we must not forget to wait for God come to judge the earth before seeking and accepting Him. Click on the Spiritual Basics tab and then click on “Salvation” if you are uncertain whether you at the correct buffet table. The food that fills you up is your decision, so choose well.
Prayer
Dear Father, I come to You today, thirsty, hungry and tired. I thank You, Father, for Your ever-present invitation to come to You. I am learning that, because of my human nature, I will always have ups and downs in my life. I have had many downs lately … I feel spiritually malnourished. When I am really feeling down, I feel distant from You … I feel like a failure. At such times, it’s almost impossible to remember the Joy of Your presence in my life. When I cannot find the way to connect to You, help me at least cling to the promise of You. I thank You that You will fill me with Your Holy Spirit … and that Your Spirit will lead me to You, and that I will “…eat what is good.” I pray this and all prayers in the name the Bread of Life, my savior, Jesus Christ; and all God’s children say – AMEN!
The Truth
Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples. Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor. Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Isaiah 55:1-6