The Inconvenience of Meals

Dear church,

As many of you know by now, we recently became foster parents to the most adorable newborn baby girl. She is amazing in all the right ways! We received her into our care when she was three days old. It’s been so amazing to be part of a child’s life in the first few days of their life. We are overwhelmed with how amazing God is in His intricate design of our bodies. I’ll catch myself just looking at our foster baby’s fingers or toes and trying to imagine them growing up into a child’s hands, into a young girl’s hands, into an adult’s hands. But for now, those fingers and toes are just so tiny!

One thing we have gotten accustomed to so far is that babies are ever-growing. Our little foster baby girl feeds every three hours or so right now. So, through the day and then through the night, every three hours she’s getting fed. Every. Three. Hours.

That means in any given twenty-four period, she’ll have 8-12 bottles, depending on her appetite and how much she sleeps in between bottles.

I’ve been thinking (mostly at her early 2 am feedings) how convenient it would be if she ate less often but simply ate more at each feeding.

Convenient? Perhaps. Doable? Of course, not! For many reasons. One major reason – their little stomachs are so small they can only handle a few ounces of food at a time. They need to eat as often as their bodies process their feedings. An author I was reading this week put it this way,

“Hunger is not satisfied by eating twenty-one meals in one sitting once a week.” ~ Max Lucado

Here are some spiritual applications we can make when we think about the frequency of the meals we consume…

*Going to church once a week will not fill you up spiritually for the remainder of the week.

I love gathering on Sundays with you and our church family. For me, it’s one of the highlights of my week. I love singing together our hymns and worship songs. I love praying together. I love teaching and preaching truths from Scripture. I especially love taking communion together. And yet, I recognize that I cannot be filled up spiritually for the entire week based on our Sunday morning service. It’s not enough. The example the early followers set for us in the book of Acts was “day by day…” (Acts 2:42-47). It’s imperative that we are in the Scriptures daily, between Sundays.

*To gain strength and remain strong, our bodies need a consistent and steady diet.

Do you remember how the Israelites were sustained while they were in the wilderness? God sent food directly from heaven. And when God gifted the manna to His people, He gave it to them in limited amounts, as much as they needed for the day in front of them. It would be a consistent and steady diet. The same principle applies to our study and consumption of God’s word in our lives. It needs to be consistent and steady. How much should you read every day? As much as you will read every day. God will use your consistent and steady disciplines to build strength within your soul.

*Maintaining a healthy diet requires serious intentionality and hard work.

Anything truly worthy in life will require effort. Scripture is not an exception to this principle. In order for us to gain understanding and glean wisdom from Scripture, it takes real effort. We must be willing to do the deep work necessary to gain an understanding of deep Scriptural truths. If all of Scripture was easily understood and easily digestible, wouldn’t that fall short of our expectations of a text that was gifted to us by God Himself? Thinking about the Israelites and the manna again – do you remember how the manna was delivered to the Israelites? It was provided to them daily but it was provided to them in its raw state. The food didn’t come ready-made. They had to work the manna and prepare it to be used for food.

*We don’t lose weight and become healthy immediately because we ate one salad.

Trust me. I’ve tried. I wish I was wrong about this. But I’m not. It takes consistency in our diet to gain the health we want long-term. In the same way, we should treat our reading and study of God’s Word the same way. Just because we read one chapter or one verse, doesn’t mean we all of a sudden will become spiritual superheroes. To be honest, there are days when I read and study Scripture for multiple hours and it doesn’t move my heart or my soul. There are days when I barely get into the Word, and I find myself spiritually renewed and transformed. As you’re reading Scripture, don’t let yourself be discouraged because of one day that seems to be mundane. What becomes truly life-changing is when we commit to the steady diet of God’s Word over a lifetime. We’ll find that it builds a healthy frame of mind, spiritually and gives strength to our souls.

I mentioned Max Lucado a moment ago. He tells the story of a little girl who returned from her first day of school feeling a bit dejected. Her mom asked, “Did you learn anything?” 

“Apparently not enough,” the girl responded. “I have to go back tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and the next…”

Such is life, isn’t it? And so is our study with Scripture. We keep at it. Little by little, day by day, we’ll measure the fruit in our lives by the years and decades we follow Him.

I was emailing a mentor of mine this last week. In his email encouraging me he said this,

“Small things done or said faithfully over a longer period of time seems to bear unexpectedly sweet fruit…” ~ Steve Walker

Stay at it, church. Little by little. Day by day.
Don’t try to consume all your week’s meals by relying solely on Sunday morning.
Rather, let’s stay daily in His word.

I love you church,

Pastor Daniel

(In upcoming issues of ‘Dear church’ we’ll talk about three guest speakers that will come to FCC in the coming months and why I love singing hymns)