Monday, March 4, 2019

The Parable of The Fries

Is your kid a picky eater? What kid isn't, right? Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned by us parents and grandparents.

Our grandson came to visit this past Saturday. We had broasted chicken for lunch but our grandson didn't have any. Apparently, "it's the wrong kind of chicken." Tasted good to me.

Then our grandson went for his backpack and pulled out a package of fresh broccoli and ate it. Well played. Grandma could say nothing.

That evening I was surprised to hear we were going to McDonald's for dinner. My wife hates McDonald's or any fast food place for that matter. Why would we go there? Well, I was about to find out.

Our grandson ordered a Happy Meal. A six piece McNuggets meal with fries, yogurt, and a milk. He didn't like the yogurt. Wrong flavor. But let me tell you about the fries!

He dumped them all out onto the tray and then opened a pack of BBQ sauce. Then everything went into high gear. And he had a system! He would dip the fries in the sauce and then shove them in his mouth again and again. Sometimes two-handed! He really liked those fries! My wife kept encouraging our grandson to take a breath and swallow. His fry consumption was amazing to watch.

Somewhere in all of the fry inhalation, the chicken nuggets disappeared. Apparently they were the RIGHT kind of chicken. LOL! We finished our meals and then left. Our grandson was stuffed.

On the way home I thought about what I had just witnessed. About how our grandson knew exactly what he liked and refused to eat anything else, even though it was good for him. There is a lesson to be learned here.

If we are to be consuming the Bread of Life in our faith we have to be willing to taste of the convicting stuff as well as the fruit of the vine. We need a well-balanced spiritual meal. We can't just eat French fries and nothing but.

Our grandson has a good mother. She knows her son is particular about what he eats. She also knows he needs to eat healthy. She found something he liked that was good for him (broccoli) and sent it along.

There is another meaning to this parable. There are some pastors who preach a slightly different Gospel. They soft-pedal the sin part and only preach about all the warm and fuzzy stuff. That's not a well-balanced spiritual diet. Not hearing the full counsel of God would be like eating nothing but fries for the rest of your life. Or at least until you got a stern warning from your doctor.

My dietician wife has a saying - "Everything in moderation." I think that's good advice for us Christians as well. Except when you get to Jesus. Then we need to gobble Him up like our grandson and his fries.

"35Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirst." - John 6:35


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