When Are We Having Dinner? 2016.10.25
It is no surprise that a number of studies have confirmed what we've know all along: Eating together makes us happier, healthier & better connected. And yet, shared meals - especially in one's home - have been on the decline for some time. Take-out & drive-through have become the new family staple, and let's face it - having people over can be an inconvenience, I mean, cleaning up, preparing the meal, and then the dishes afterwards... and things only become more complicated when kids are thrown into the mix. I also know that some people even complicate this by throwing in the element of vulnerability - our guests may judge our home, our food, or even if our own family may even embarrass us... If we have to, it's just easier to meet up at a restaurant. Christian blogger David Swanson offered up a great point - sharing a meal with friends in our home, than in a restaurant, can be a sign of "our confidence in a hospitable God" as meals out avoid the sometimes-complicated role of "host" and "guest".
We are the only species that eats our food at a table. To take in the necessary proteins & vitamins, we don't need to eat our food with people... And yet, when we eat together, food is also served with love, fellowship & mercy. God has invited us to His Table - If we claim to belong to Jesus, how do we not open up our own to others?
"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come." | ||
Matthew 22:2-3 |
I won't lie - I love having people over... to invite them into my home, entertain & feed them, to engage in great conversation (and see them walk out without a need for a stomach-pump) - All around win! Acts 20:35 holds true to me - It truly is better to give than receive. And yet, I get a lot from it as well! To talk to friends, laugh and enjoy the moments, to hear the silence when we're all eating... That is a reward in itself. Matthew 18:20 holds true.
The life of a disciple is a life of true sacrifice. We deny our needs with others, to server them instead. And we see this because God has blessed us by serving us. Let's open up our hearts & homes to others by not only offering up a meal, but ourselves as well to our guests!
17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.21God made him who had no sin to be sin[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. | ||
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 |
