The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"The Sacrifice and the Sustenance"
When offering the simple prayer of thanksgiving for food, we do well to keep in mind that our meal did not come to us freely.
"He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).
Every bite of food we have ever eaten, or will eat, does not come to us primarily by our efforts, or the efforts of others on our behalf (although we acknowledge and appreciate both). We eat first and foremost because "the Bread of life," the Lord Jesus Christ, suffered, was forsaken, and died in the white hot oven of God's wrath again sin (John 6:35; Isaiah 53:7). Thereby, our Heavenly Father freely gives "all things" to us, but at the highest cost to Himself. This places a price beyond imagining on "all things," including all morsels of every meal. Had the Savior not sacrificed Himself to God's judgment against our unrighteousness, He would have been required by His righteousness to bestow upon us not His gift of food, but rather His fury of wrath.
"We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:4-5)
I sat down before a meal this morning, neglecting to give thanks. Halfway finished, my omission occurred to me. I rued not only the neglect of failing to express gratitude, but also the unconscionable forgetting of Who paid for my meal, and the cost He remitted. Our Lord's sacrifice made possible the provision not only of forgiveness and eternal life, but of "life and breath and all things" (Acts 17:25). Indeed, it is one thing to rightly appreciate and give thanks for the physical benefits, flavor, and enjoyment of food. It is another to remember that God "spared not" His beloved Son in order that He might spare not His supply of every blessing we will know both in this life and forevermore. God's provision comes by a price. His freely given provision to us cost Him infinitely more than we will ever know. "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (I Peter 1:18-19)
The simple giving of thanks before a meal offers opportunity to remember the sacrifice that makes possible the sustenance. We do so not as ritual, or mere obligation. We do so rather in awe and utter bewilderment that every morsel bears the message of mercy whereby God provided the freest gift ever given, purchased by the highest cost ever remitted. We may not always consciously think of such grace every time we give thanks for our food. However, the truth must be hidden deeply in our hearts that all things "freely given" bless us because Somebody paid for them by the price of blood, sorrow, pain, forsakenness, and death. May we remember the sacrifice, that makes possible the sustenance.
"Meats (foods)… God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth."
(I Timothy 4:3)
Weekly Memory Verse
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
(I Corinthians 13:12)
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