Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 1 Peter 2:10
The scripture from last weeks episode in Romans talks about a miracle. Wild olive branches grafted to the cultivated olive branches. I get to be a part of the Kingdom of God because Jesus made a way for all people, not just the Jews. As a Gentile, I am adopted into the family of God, full inheritance and all. That is the heart of God. He loves his full creation. He wants us to be forever in His family.
That beautiful relationship of satisfaction and glory and stability in the Trinity is available for us with Him and in the family of Christ.
I look to so many other things to satisfy me. Even good things. Help me, Jesus.
My sister and her fiancé just got a puppy, and I’m reminded of this feeling inside of me that bubbles up so much that I just want to eat em up. Not in the morbid way, but in the way that I just want more of it. The pure cuteness. You know like something akin to Maurice Sendak Where the Wild Things Are when Max’s mother would say, “Ill eat you up I love you so.” There’s something to love and eating and union isn’t there?
We all have food. We all have a body that needs food. We could survive with water for some time, but we definitely will not be making it long without nourishment from food.
I want to remember something. In the year of our Lord two thousand twenty, I learned that plants need food and not just water and light. I don’t know if I was taught correctly or incorrectly, but for some reason I only remembered from school, so for most of my life, that all plants needed to grow was water and light. Well, soil too which would hint at the food thing. But it was never made clear to me that you have to feed your plants. There’s a whole section of the gardening store that is for buying plant food. Did you know? I never noticed. Or maybe I wasn’t listening. A green concoction to mix in with water or little slow release pellets or more soil amendments can serve a fine meal for different plants. My friend told me that the flowers will grow without it, but they will thrive with solid food. So if you are looking for beautiful big blooms multiplying, its important to feed your plants. So often beginner gardeners are discouraged when their flowers don’t do as well as they hoped. A little food would have made all the difference.
I, of course, was immediately thinking of Jesus giving us solid food.
Scripture talks about this.
Bread and wine.
Water from the rock. Manna from heaven.
Milk and honey.
There’s a lot of good food mentioned in the Bible. I’m a big fan of olive oil and figs and bread, and fish, so it doesn’t take me long to get hungry when reading some of the words about food.
And there’s something really important being said in the spiritual realm. We need spiritual food. If we aren’t looking to the stuff that satisfies, we will be left hungry.
I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,
1 Peter 2:2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
Hebrews 5:14 says “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”
I love that a child can access and understand the love of Jesus. A theological scholar can keep digging and chewing on the riches of the Gospel. There is solid food for the taking. And we are called to maturity at the same time we are called to be childlike. I think I get it. Jesus help me!
Jesus is a person and wants a personal relationship with us. He has a body FOREVER. God entered a body forever. He is waiting for his bride. US. THE CHURCH. It is his pleasure to help us, sustain us, and love us. He is in it to grow us and make us fruitful and pure and everything we are meant to be so we can be unified together forever. WHAT? Can you imagine what that will look like? Ive been trying for weeks now, and while I have only the slightest idea what this all means, I’m so excited about it. He loves us so much.
A woman leading our Bible study shared how maybe she doesn’t know Jesus in a particular way yet.
I love that so much. It’s a relationship. A relationship grows. We get to grow relationships. With him. With each other.
Maybe we don’t know Jesus in a particular way, yet.
I think of the elementary idea of best friends. And then the middle school idea of best friends and friends of high school and college and mid twenties. And now older friends of all ages. My relationships are maturing. They simply do not look like they did when I was in elementary school. Right?
So Jesus and my relationship with him can mature!
Like a new friend. I might make a new friend who I connect with easily. For example, I made one last year online. We have fun doing little activities here and there in the context of a group, but the relationship was just on the surface. We ended up talking one-on-one in a private message and got to know each other a tiny bit more. I don’t know my new friend where I know her whole history, yet. We recently became pen pals and start writing each other letters and are getting to know each other a little deeper as we write out ideas in our hearts and even just ordinary parts of our day to each other. We are sharing some spiritual insights that Jesus is uniting us to in Spirit and in truth. I am so encouraged by her fellowship even from afar. Maybe someday, we will meet in the flesh. And I will be able to give her a big hug! I just don’t know her like that yet. You know?
Do we know him as Father, brother, high priest, lover, friend, shepherd? The more we get to know Him, the deeper union we have. That depth of relationship is unending.
The promise is that we can have it. No, we may! Just like we may pursue relationships with people in this life, we have access to all the love of Jesus. And this life on earth is about two things: being sanctified to be more like Him and sharing His Love with others —-all while we walk with Him in His power.
So if you are thirsty, drink up.
If you are hungry, taste and see. Eat Him up.
This love is available for the taking at the Fathers table. Jesus made so sure of that. So help me Jesus! Ill eat you up, I love you so!
Ill take this bread and drink this wine, and Ill abide in the letters you’ve given me access to and the relationship you died for me to have with you until I get to see you in the flesh for the best hug Ill ever have.
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I do declare these words to you from the book of John verses
So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
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I have an idea for you this week in the merry Month of May. If you are listening at a different time of year, please adjust accordingly with any plants you have access to or even a bouquet from the store.
Go and pick some flowers- grown or wild or bought and put them in a vase, a jar, or a little bottle.
Just enjoy the flowers today. They wont be here for long, but gosh I could eat them up I love them so.
If you garden, maybe treat your plants with a little plant food every few weeks. They will bloom in plenty. You could even share a bouquet with a neighbor.
Send me pictures of your flowers. Tag me @sincerelysarahstudios on instagram or email me. You never know what I might do with these little bouquets. I might be inspired to paint one or make another dinner time doodle.
If you enjoyed this episode, please share with your friends, write a review on or wherever you are listening! It encourages me so much to know my words are doing a little part in sharing the love of Jesus.
Thank you Taylor Leonhardt for sharing the beautiful song you hear every week on this podcast. Thank you friends for being here with me. Even when I fumble through my words and my brain is bananas. My sister is getting married so we are busy preparing for her wedding day and marriage. I get the immense privilege of being her maid of honor so hopefully Ill have time for next weeks episode, but if not, that’s why! Please pray for them and their marriage if you think about it. I love them so much. I love you so much. Peace and joy and flower bouquets everywhere!
Sincerely,
Sarah
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