"Eat, O Friends"

 "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved." (S.O.S. 5:1)

  Hope everyone is doing fine; as fine as to be expected. As far as this pandemic is concerned, it would appear as though it has caught the attention of the majority; leaving little choices to those who do not quite agree with how much we should allow it to dominate our lives. If you find yourself wanting to be left alone, to be not told how you to live your life, or to not be someone that gets in line; you are going to be put in a place of not caring for your fellow man, whether it is true or not, you will be selfish and cold-hearted in the eyes of those that do what they are told.

  Something is common in this story! To be straight to the point: there was a time in which many that were following Jesus, suddenly turned away, saying, "This is a hard saying; who can hear it?" (John 6:60) This they said because Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." (John 6:53) Common is all in the frame of mind; as in, what it is that you see to be the answer, and how far will you go to believe in it! 

  Basically, we are in a war, whether you can except that or not, you are most every day bombarded with different things that will challenge you faith; some easily dealt with, some a little more challenging; and some, you don't even quite know what to do with, so you lay that issue aside, to deal with another day. In the process of living in the world, while at the same time, not loving the world, there is always this little thing called, Give and Take; that would be similar to a scale, one side is good, the other side, is not so good; above it all, is that which has become undecided. 

  It is that undecided stuff that needs to be dealt with! The undecided stuff is not going to win you any strength in your faith, because your faith will never be challenged by anything that is left undecided. Am I all in or not! It really all comes down to that basic formula; anything else is not going to cut it, because it will always leave room for doubt. To eat of His flesh, is to buy into the whole package, from beginning to end! It is saying, Lord, I believe what you say, Who you are, and all that you have done, you have done because You love me! 

  To put that in a little better light, we revisit the time when the disciples questioned, saying, "Hath any man brought him aught to eat?" And Jesus replied, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." (John 4:33-34) You have to eat! Chew every last bite; and anything that might tough to chew, then you chew it more; keep on chewing until it gets eaten; because until you eat it, it does not give you strength...

"But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." (Romans 3:21-26)