Hunger

I love to bake. On our counter sit two glass cookie jars and my new year's resolution is to keep them filled with something homemade most of the time. However, as I stared at one of the empty jars a few weeks ago I decided to fill it with some baked dog treats I had that look like gingerbread men. Clever right? Fast forward to later that day when one of my sons walks in, hungry from lacrosse practice, decided to get himself a cookie without asking first, and you can guess the rest. It only took him one bite to realize his mistake, but it isn't a bite he will forget anytime soon. He made me aware that it was very confusing to have two jars, next to each other, one filled with things to eat and one filled with things not to eat. So a few of the dog treats were in my box today.

I think the story of our fall from grace and redemption through Christ can be summed up in the pithy instruction to "Eat this, not that."  The story of Adam and Eve is a familiar one. God created our world with strict instructions to not eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and yet, like hungry children, they took and ate without really thinking of the consequences. It is a pattern we have kept repeating. We hunger for knowledge, experiences, possessions, and power to fill the void that is caused by our separation from God. Yet our hunger can only be ended when we listen to the words of Christ who said. "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me". Only then will we truly be full.

How have you allowed Christ to fill you up? Are you sharing this meal with others?