It’s about Fellowship Not Food – Part I
I come to you this gorgeous Monday afternoon thinking about your kitchen table. You’re probably not surprised by that one. However, the reason I’m so concerned about your kitchen table may not be what you think. If you’re game, I would like to walk you through a little activity. Do me a favor and walk into your kitchen or dining area and look at your table. Maybe even snap a pic. Got it? Now,what does that table mean or represent to you? Your answer to this one question may be the beginning of your breakthrough and I’m absolutely FIRED UP about it. I promise it’s not just about the food you eat on it but the fellowship you partake in at it.
You see my friends, your kitchen table is a sacred symbol, and God cares about the way we eat. A meal at your table is about so much more than eating. It’s not about what’s ON your table, but who’s at it with you. Just take a look at Jesus (our example). Do you ever think about the fact that Jesus was a carpenter and probably spent much of his young life building tables? Then, as it would turn out, most of the depictions of him throughout the new testament are centered around tables, meals, or food. He broke bread, cooked fish, turned water into wine, and even used food to symbolically represent his death, burial and resurrection at a table at the last supper. Think about that for a second. The first communion was not at church but around a table!!
But in all of these scenarios the focus was on Jesus and fellowship with him. Through that fellowship came teaching, his love, his commands, and his life. God cares about the way we eat because it’s about getting his people into a relationship of fellowship with him. It’s about slowing down and remembering him. It’s about a Jesus obsession instead of a food obsession. It’s about realizing that he has blessed us, and remembering that in every moment, even eating. Just take a look at all the old testament feasts. Those were all about remembering God and what he had done. It was about celebrating your God not your food.
Now, fast forward to modern day America. Fast food USA. Where we live to eat instead of eating to live. We keep ourselves and our kids so busy with one activity after another that we no longer cherish that time at the table. Or, we say a quick grace, put Jesus back on his shelf, and commence to gorging and scarfing our food down so rapidly that we don’t even talk to each other. We don’t even stop long enough to realize we are full. If only we could slow down and remember him. What would he teach us at our tables? How then would we be filled?
Go with me now for a minute to Exodus 24:9-11.
“Moses, and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement make of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; THEY SAW GOD, AND THEY ATE AND DRANK.“
Do you see this? They literally ate and drank in the presence of the Lord. How would are lives change if we did the same? So I challenge you today to take back your table and keep it sacred. Clear off the laundry, cleats, bills, or whatever else is on it and decide to have a meal tonight with your family. Eat as unto the Lord. I will be talking more specifically about food and how to do that in a healthy way in tomorrow’s blog so stay tuned for Part II. I hope you will join me in this challenge! I’ve included a picture of my kitchen table and am committing to keeping it sacred! I would love to see a picture of yours too. If this spoke to you in any way head on over to my Facebook page and post your pic. Or leave a comment below.
Speaking the truth in love,
Lindsey Nadler
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