"Passionately Seeking & Speaking the Love of Jesus Christ"
Dateline: Phillips West
Since I have become a dad you all knew that this was bound to happen. Here is a "kids do/day the darnedest things" newsletter...
The other day while I was eating a snack, Antioch came up to the chair, pulled himself up, and began to chomp his mouth open and shut as he vicariously shared my snack. He has a tendency to do this whenever other people are eating and he is not. Whether it be at the dining room table (he will sit in his high chair long after his meal is gone and chomp away as Brittany and I eat) or even at a restaurant (last night he sat in his high chair staring out the window at the diners on the patio, eyes focused and mouth opening and closing along with the crowd).
I have no other experience with 1 year olds so I do not know if this vicarious eating is common among them but I do have enough experience with the modern day church to know that vicarious Christianity is common among Christians of all ages. How many times have you heard a sermon or read a devotional and thought that someone other than you needed to hear or read that message? How often have you thought that the mission field is meant for someone else and not yourself? Perhaps you are reading this and not even participating in regular worship services. Instead you think that you can have a relationship with Jesus Christ as a "vicarious bride" (do I need to even go into detail as to what that implies?).
Just like Antioch chomping at the air, living a vicarious Christian life may look like the real thing but you are getting no substance or sustenance at all. The big difference between the vicarious eating of a one year old and vicarious Christianity is that given the opportunity, the one year old would happily tear into any food given to them; while the vicarious Christian simply continues to let the opportunities pass on by.
People, it is time to get hungry for all that our Lord has set on the table for us. There is a place at the table and the name tag says "reserved for the Bride." Grab a seat and dig in!
