Eating on Sundays and Wednesdays

"Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation" (1 Peter 2:2)

Let's get one fact perfectly straight right from the start, beloved - I love to eat! I don't know anyone who loves to eat any more than I do. I just love the taste of good food! I look forward to every meal and "relish" (pardon the pun!) the anticipation of tasting a savory dish, just like those scrumptious meals that will be served soon on Thanksgiving Day. That fact firmly established, then, I cannot imagine the thought of feeding myself only two days a week. I mean, eating is supposed to be a daily experience!

Leaving the food analogy behind for a moment, let me tell you where this all came from and where it is going. I was recently studying and preparing a message from 1 Corinthians 14 and was struck by the Apostle Paul's instruction to the Corinthian women to "ask their own husbands at home" if they desired to grow spiritually (v.35). Without getting into the specifics of what had gone wrong with the church in Corinth to prompt such an exhortation from him, I was reminded by his words that the home is to be the primary "campus" for Christian education. Or to return to the food analogy, we should be feeding ourselves daily upon the Word at home just like we feed ourselves daily with the food from our cupboards.

What is unfortunate, beloved, is that we have transferred this personal responsibility for nourishing ourselves spiritually from the home to the local church. We have made the church our primary "campus" for Christian education and, in many cases, our only "campus"! We have reached the point where we now only "eat" on Sundays and Wednesdays and conclude that it is all the feeding that we need to receive as Christians - Sunday School, a preaching service or two - and we're good to go for the week! No wonder that the church of Jesus Christ is as anemic and ineffective as it has become!

If feeding ourselves physically two days a week is to you an absurd notion, beloved, then imagine how much more absurd to you should be the idea that what you get at church is all that your soul needs in order to grow steadily in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ! Imagine believing that with such "snacks" as you receive on Sundays and Wednesdays, you may still become a warrior for Jesus Christ and a builder in His kingdom! If it wouldn't sustain you physically, my friend, then it won't sustain you spiritually.

Let me invite you to join me in pleasing your spiritual palate on a daily basis. Drop the two-day a week routine and start feeding your spirit regularly upon the sustenance of God's Word. Begin to look forward to each "meal" with anticipation and enjoy it with gusto. Let each one nourish and strengthen you for the life of service to which God in His mercy has called you. Bon appetit, beloved!

Ron