Pick Up That Fork!

"Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,

and let your soul delight itself in abundance.”

Isa 55:2 NKJV

At one time or another (if we are honest with ourselves) I’m sure every church-going Christian has said this in reference to their church services or Sunday School classes:

“I’m just not getting fed.”

I know that I have.  A couple of weeks ago, the Lord gave me a mental picture that really spoke to me concerning this and I pray that by sharing it, I can help someone else. 

That particular morning, I read a post/rant from a friend on Facebook about how we as Christians sit idle in our churches and complain because we are not being fed instead of picking up the fork and feeding ourselves.  It really kicked me in the gut and I began to see this picture in my head….

Imagine this with me…

The pastor is standing at the front of the church with a fork in his hand.  We are each sitting in our pews with our families and every person has a huge plate of food on their lap.  We are all so hungry for the food, but the problem is…we are just sitting there on our hands.  Our children are sitting there on their hands.  And this just sounds absurd, but we are expecting the preacher to take that one tiny fork and feed each and every one of us (until we are full) in a 30-45 minute span on Sunday morning.  And the rest of the week? We have the food with us everywhere we go, but do we eat it?  No! We don’t eat all week long!  We wait for that one small period of time on Sunday and expect the preacher to fill us up enough to last until the next week.  AND we expect him and the Sunday School teachers to fill our kids up enough to last them until the next week.

When I pictured this in my head…it seemed so ridiculous.  We certainly would never do that with actual food-food.  If you put a plate full of food in front of me when I’m hungry, there’s NO WAY that I’m not going to eat it. If I didn’t have a fork, I’d use my hands!  I PROMISE you, if we were hungry enough, every one of us would find a way to eat that food. 

It’s the same with spiritual food…if we are hungry enough,

we WILL find a way to eat.      

In this day and age, we have access to God’s word- our spiritual food- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We have the bible (in multiple versions), bible apps for our phones, Youtube-where we can watch and listen to any kind of sermon you can think of, awesome bible teachers that share their teachings and sermons FOR FREE on the internet, CD’s and flashdrives filled with sermons and biblical teachings that you can listen to in your car…and so much more.  There is an endless supply of spiritual food!  So why are so many of us starving for the word of God that is sitting right there on our laps?  Is it because we are waiting for our pastors to feed us? 

I can promise you…there is no possible way that we can get everything that we need to fill us up for an entire week in that 30-45 minute span on Sunday morning.   Yes, one of the pastor’s jobs is to feed his flock, but that is just one small part of what he does as the shepherd.  We also have the responsibility of feeding ourselves and our children. 

I hope this gives a new perspective to someone as it has done for me.

Let’s pick up that fork and feed ourselves!                 

 “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart;  For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.” Jeremiah 15:16 NKJV

P.S. (And please don’t try to use the excuse…”If I can feed myself, then I don’t need to go to church.”  The bible is VERY clear about assembling ourselves together. Hebrews 10:24-25 NKJV says,  “ And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,  not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”  It’s so important to gather with like-minded believers to encourage and lift each other up.)