So, Sunday March 26 2017, was a good one for me as a person. People kept coming up to me and commenting on the weight I have lost, and inquiring the "how?" Now before you start to wonder "how much weight have you lost?" The answer is; "I don't know." Because my goal in this isn't weight loss, instead it's energy gained. I desire to be an active and energized human being at any weight I occupy. So, I focused my attention not on what was leaving my body (lbs.) Instead I focused on my ingestion, or simply what I am adding to my body to make it run better. A great analogy is to go out to car and put brown sugar in the gas tank. If you do this you will spend thousands of dollars in repairs because your car cannot run on sugar. Matters of fact, it clogs up the fuel lines and does immense damage to your vehicle making it unable to run at all. Our body behaves the same way, the ingestion of healthy food leads to a well running body, and the converse is also true the ingestion of unhealthy foods leads to fatigue, and stagnation. So I am being energized to action not by loss but by gain. I am ingesting things that improve my life and empower me to be active in the world.
Now let's look at this great scripture from the prophet Ezekiel 2:8-3:4 As for you, human one, listen to what I say to you. Don't become rebellious like that household of rebels. Open your mouth and eat what I give to you. Then I looked, and there in a hand stretched out me was a scroll. He spread it open in front of me, and it was filled with writing on both sides, songs of mourning, lamentation, and doom. Then he said to me: Human one, eat this and go, speak to the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. He said to me: Human one, feed your belly and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you. So I ate it, and in my mouth became sweet as honey. Then he said to me: Human one, go! Go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.
We see that God's word is fed to Ezekiel and fills his belly. I love that God's word is sweet as honey! Ezekiel is going to call Israel to repentance and conversion back to the living God of Israel. It's a mighty task and the only way Ezekiel will be able to accomplish it will be with the Word of God fueling him. Christians today have a noble, but large task in front of us as well. Declaring the goodness of God in a world that sees Him less good everyday. The idea of sin and conviction are becoming "outdated" according to a society that claims no absolute truths, and promotes individuality above all other needs. But, just as with Ezekiel we are called to be the voice of God to help people to turn from sins that lead to destruction, and back into the arms of a good, and loving Heavenly Father! The only way Christians can accomplish this task is to ingest the Word of God and allow it to call us to action by the guiding of God's Holy Spirit. Christians who try to live out their call without feeding on the work of Jesus who is the bread of life, and the also the teachings of the Bible become malnourished and burn out. Or, sadly their task losses it focus and it become social justice without God's mission. Without feeding on the word of God our tasks becomes about human efforts and lacks the power of God's Holy Spirit! The other conviction is gluttony with no action. Feeding on Jesus' teachings day, and night but not being moved to action. This leads to a Christian who knows what God commands but doesn't share this bread of life with anyone else. Anyone who eats too much bread without sharing, and refuses to move, becomes paralyzed by the weight of it. Their lives are all about truth but lacks action, or love toward people whom God loves. They too are waisting their Spirit given potential within God's mission.
Instead today I am asking God to help me ingest His good Word. To soak in the Scriptures and bring my heart to life! To hear the Holy Spirit calling my name and showing me His goodness and love, and eating the bread of life to becoming energized and alive within my heart. Then from that fount of love pouring into me finding ways to show it off and to share it with a world that needs to know God is both love and truth. This week I am challenging myself and you to eat of God's word everyday! Don't let one day go by that you don't sit down and prayerfully search the scriptures! Trust me it's sweet as honey and filling as bread! Then find ways to share His love and grace with those around us! God's word is the bread of life and His table is open to all who come! Take and eat all you who are hungry, and drink all you who are thirsty, come and find life in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit!
Ingest on Friends!
Richard
focusonthecross.org
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