Mom Heart Moments #69

One day some people said to Jesus, “John the Baptist’s disciples fast and pray regularly, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. Why are your disciples always eating and drinking?”

Jesus responded, “Do wedding guests fast while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

CHRISTIANS SOMETIMES FEEL a pressure to be “spiritual” all the time. But to separate the spiritual from the ordinary is to say that Jesus is not King over those everyday moments in life. We should learn from Jesus to embrace the mundane moments —even the silly, fun ones —and find God’s fingerprints of grace within them. If we can do this, we will learn to see God in a fuller dimension.

Jesus didn’t come just to save our souls; He came to redeem every part of our lives. When we give our whole lives to Him —food, drink, work, play, body, spirit, and family —we glorify God by living into the beauty He meant for us.

I like to picture what the feasts in the Bible must have been like. In the time when Jesus lived, meals were not nice, orderly things. I imagine dusty garments, loud arguments, pungent spices, and stinky feet. Jesus’ ministry not only allowed for these meals; it took place in the context of them.

Not all holy moments are somber and serious. If Jesus discipled His apostles in the midst of food, drink, laughter, and mundane moments, I believe we should too. Instead of viewing them as spiritual “downtime,” we should see them as the times when God is most likely to work.

Our laughter can glorify God as much as our thoughtful meditation.

Serving pizza to a houseful of teenagers can strike spiritual gold.

We must learn to cherish all the moments of our lives and to call them holy.

What did people accuse Jesus of in today’s Scripture? How did this show their disdain for the joy and fellowship of eating and drinking together? What does Jesus’ response tell you?