Gluttony at Its Best

The more God has revealed himself to us, the more Ben and I want of him.  It is a spirit hunger that doesn't subside.  We want to grow fat on God.  Practically, how can we do that?

 

As we poured ourselves in Scripture, it seemed so simple.  1 John 3:18  "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 

Then looking at Luke 15...We saw that Jesus was in the business of going after the one lost sheep and leaving the 99 in the open country.  How do we apply this?  Well, I will tell you it came in an unexpected way.  God pressed on our hearts that we would have to leave our four children in the open country and pursue our lost child until we find him. 

 

We are not doing the rescuing, it is all God.  He initiated and we, as sheep in our own right, get to follow.  At times, we might think too highly of ourselves and count ourselves undershepherds to the Good Shepherd.  However since God is constantly shepherding my soul and leading me to green pastures, I count myself a sheep.

 

How does a sheep rescue another sheep?  Well, it doesn't. 

 

But I will tell you that when this little sheep found that another little sheep was in peril, I told the Good Shepherd, "You are going to have to carry this precious little child on your shoulders, because mine are only good for mutton with mint sauce."  

 

 

Can you see me dangling my hind legs down the rock face to rescue the sheep alone on this boulder?   Before I hollered out instructions to grab hold, I would slip and need rescuing myself. 

 

 

Looking at this picture, I see surefooted Jesus gently scooping up the lost lamb and carrying it on his broad shoulders. 

The key to living fat on Jesus is letting him feed your dreams and inabilities.   Once we taste his higher plans, there is no going back to ours.  It is invigorating and exciting, dangerous and scary and oh, so much better than living spiritually skinny.

Like C.S. Lewis said,
"It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."