Late Night, Early Morning

(December 3)

There are those of us whose job requires working late into the night.  The project has a deadline, the workers must comply—so it’s late at night before your stomach says, “I’m hungry.”  You stroll down to the vending machines and find them greatly depleted by this time.  So what does the late night worker get?

· Most of what’s left is comprised entirely of chocolate and sugar.  Your doctor condemns the first and your dentist the second, so you look for something which actually has some form of flour in it.  A few quarters and some well aimed rattling of the machine produces the gourmet dinner for the night:  Twinkies.™

· Your guilty conscience tells you that you have just purchased calories enough to keep an Alpine village alive through the winter.  You must atone; therefore your next purchase is a bottle of designer water—no food value, vitamins or minerals, but at least no sodium or fat. 

· You then take this feast back to your desk and eat it—alone.  Unless you consider your computer to be a conversationalist; if you do, beware of Twinkie dust on the keys.

But the next morning is Sunday, and there you partake in a very different meal.

· You need no quarters for this meal; it is a gift.  By the grace of God you partake in the bread of life, of which our Lord said, “This is My body.”  Its value is eternal.

· The cup you share is that of atonement—atonement for sin.  Our Lord paid the price for our sins on Calvary, paid without limit.  “This is My blood”; its value is beyond our imagination.

· You eat this meal alone with your thoughts—but in the presence of other believers, and in communion with many, many other believers.

You are what you eat, we are told.  Feed on Him, for He is the food of the spiritual man.   In Him there is no junk food.