Feed Me
Our family has been blessed in the last year with 2 of the most beautiful grand children. Our oldest daughter Mary and our son-in-law Tim have a daughter named Emmy. She is beautiful, and such a great baby. My youngest daughter Leah and son-in-law Tommy have a son named Baylee. Truly the happiest child on the planet. He laughs and smiles at everything.
I was noticing Baylee the other night when we were out having dinner. He was feeding himself. Now to say that he handled himself with a lot of manners was an overstatement. There was applesauce all over his mouth, and he stuffed cheese pieces in one at a time. It wasn’t pretty, mind you. But he was feeding himself.
Over the years that I was pastoring, I recall having multiple conversations with those who were exiting our church. I often heard this statement: “I’m just not getting fed.” Now to be honest, that statement use to send me into orbit. I could feel my face turning red. I would typically, as my wife would say, “get too upset”, which was something she would say to calm me down as I over-reacted to something one of my kids had done. NOT getting fed, huh? Well, I did feed them, and I could envision myself stuffing food in their faces! I recall shrinking in fear whenever someone would ask me if we could meet for lunch, fearing that they would use those same words: “I’m not getting fed”. Well, I have truly matured in these last few years, and I am much more compassionate in regards to those who are being developed. Therefore (with a much healthier perspective), I would like to share just a few thoughts on this subject.
Typically, our modern-day spiritual diet of “getting fed” is Sunday morning. One question is, what if I only ate one meal a week? In a word, malnourished would be the answer! Secondly, when I eat, what does my diet consist of? Cotton candy and hershey bars? You’re either going to be diabetic or overweight. Thirdly, at what point do I learn to eat on my own, and truly what does feed me? As for my grandson Baylee, he was eating on his own at 14 months!
Ironically, Jesus answered these questions. In the Gospels, in Matthew’s account, Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). There is a novel concept. Read it and do it. Simple enough huh? Of all the sermons we preach and hear, when do we act on what we heard?
When Jesus was dealing with the Samaritan woman in John 4:34, Jesus made a revolutionary statement:
“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”
Jesus was telling His disciples that the key to being fed was giving their lives away. Try it, and like Baylee, it might be messy. But the reality is if you’re not being fed, maybe it is because you are not getting involved in the lives of others.
Maybe we need to exchange our empty lives, by filling ourselves by serving others. In return we might just get stuffed.
