Day 30

Scripture: Ps 95, 102, 107:1-32; Jeremiah 23:1-8; Romans 8:29-39; John 6:52-59


Scripture standout: There are some gooooooooot ones this morning. Here are a few of my favorites:


Romans 8: "³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”^[a]37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,^[b] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.


Then there's...


John 6: "⁵³ Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”⁵⁹ He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum."


Then there's this...


Ps 95: "⁶ Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; ⁷ for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care."


Morning thoughts: A couple of thoughts — first, it is a great comfort to know that no matter where you fall on the scale of "goodness" or where you are on your life journey, you're never separated from God. When I'm cursing moths and considering selling my children because do ridiculous things like sling ranch dressing at each other at dinner — I'm still connected. When I mumble complaints to myself and act like a selfish ninny, I'm still tethered to the Big Guy.


On the eating Jesus bit. That does sound a little strange, but I will liken it to the consumption of cheese puffs. Man, when I get a bag of those suckers I can't stop. They taste so good and salty going down and I can't keep my hand out of the bag. And after I've gnawed through several servings, I feel really satisfied. I feel, peaceful. Successful. Happy. I lick my fingers afterward and relish every single, last, little speck of white dust. But unlike the more heavenly manna or bread, I feel terribly guilty about five minutes later — and hungry again. And as I've discovered with the whole sugar intolerance issue, what you eat becomes a part of you — it affects the most microscopic little bits of your blood, for better or worse. Absorbing the love of Christ and letting that be part of my fiber, is the same way. But it's good for you, doesn't create any insulin imbalance and warms the soul. And while it makes me hungry for more, I don't feel low afterward. I'm on a high.