My granddaughter Amelia has a love hate relationship with eggs. One day she scarfs down scrambled eggs with cheese or a cheese omelet and other days she refuses them after gagging on the first bite. She seems to prefer eggs at the bagel shop to any we’ve prepared at home. Fortunately she has a younger brother and two cousins who are happy to finish off her portion on any given day.
I’ve read that we have fewer tastebuds as we age so we become less picky. I know adults who confirm this theory and others who deny it, who still eat like toddlers. As believers, Jesus and our Bibles are our spiritual food and scripture forbids picky eating. Jesus’s most controversial teaching in his day caused many of His followers to turn their backs on Him, refusing to be associated with Him further.
“Jesus replied to them, “Listen to this eternal truth: Unless you eat the body of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have eternal life.
Eternal life comes to the one who eats my body and drinks my blood, and I will raise him up in the last day.
For my body is real food for your spirit and my blood is real drink.
The one who eats my body and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in him.
The Father of life sent me, and he is my life.
In the same way, the one who feeds upon me, I will become his life.
I am not like the bread your ancestors ate and later died.
I am the living Bread that comes from heaven.
Eat this Bread and you will live forever!””
John 6:53-58 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/jhn.6.53-58.TPT
“And when many of Jesus’ followers heard these things, it caused a stir.
“That’s disgusting!” they said. “How could anybody accept it?”
Without anyone telling him, Jesus knew they were outraged and told them, “Are you offended over my teaching?
The Holy Spirit is the one who gives life, that which is of the natural realm is of no help.
The words I speak to you are Spirit and life.
But there are still some of you who won’t believe.””
John 6:60-61, 63 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/jhn.6.63.TPT
“So Jesus said to his twelve, “And you—do you also want to leave?”
Peter spoke up and said, “But Lord, where would we go?
No one but you gives us the revelation of eternal life.
We’re fully convinced that you are the Anointed One, the Son of the Living God, and we believe in you!””
John 6:67-69 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/jhn.6.67-69.TPT
“You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others.
Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word.
You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.
For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right.
Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.”
Hebrews 5:12-14 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/heb.5.14.NLT
When our children were small, we were told by their pediatrician to avoid introducing certain foods, potential allergens, until they were one. When we introduced eggs to our middle child, Caroline, she ate them greedily but would invariably puke them up after several hours. She’s not allergic to them, only to shellfish which gives her hives. She’s never disliked them so I assumed she had swallowed them without chewing and her stomach, refusing to do the chewing for her, sent them back. How often do we do the same with God’s Word?
After Jesus told a story about a farmer sowing seeds, His disciples and others who were there found Him to ask what the parable meant.
“Then Jesus said to them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable, how will you understand all the other parables?
Then Jesus asked them, “Would anyone light a lamp and then put it under a basket or under a bed?
Of course not!
A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light will shine.
For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light.
Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”
Or as The Passion Translation reads, “If you understand this, then you need to respond.”
Then he added, “Pay close attention to what you hear.
The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given—and you will receive even more.
To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given.
But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.”
Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground.
Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens.
Jesus used many similar stories and illustrations to teach the people as much as they could understand.
In fact, in his public ministry he never taught without using parables; but afterward, when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.”
Mark 4:13, 21-27, 33-34 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/mrk.4.21-34.NLT
“Jesus answered, “The knowledge about the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
For the person who has something will be given more, so that he will have more than enough; but the person who has nothing will have taken away from him even the little he has.
“If you understand what I’m saying, you need to respond!”
Then he said to them, “Be diligent to understand the meaning behind everything you hear, for as you do, more understanding will be given to you.
And according to your longing to understand, much more will be added to you.
For those who listen with open hearts will receive more revelation.
But those who don’t listen with open hearts will lose what little they think they have!””
Mark 4:23-25 TPT
https://bible.com/bible/1849/mrk.4.23-25.TPT
“The reason I use parables in talking to them is that they look, but do not see, and they listen, but do not hear or understand.
So the prophecy of Isaiah applies to them: ‘This people will listen and listen, but not understand; they will look and look, but not see, because their minds are dull, and they have stopped up their ears and have closed their eyes.
Otherwise, their eyes would see, their ears would hear, their minds would understand, and they would turn to me, says God, and I would heal them.’
As for you, how fortunate you are!
Your eyes see and your ears hear.
I assure you that many prophets and many of God’s people wanted very much to see what you see, but they could not, and to hear what you hear, but they did not.”
Matthew 13:11-17 GNT
https://bible.com/bible/68/mat.13.11-17.GNT
The give and take Jesus spoke of is spiritual truth. Jesus used nearly the same phrase according to Matthew with his disciples following the parables of the seed and the sower and the three servants. (Matthew 13 & 25) With the phrase, “whoever has ears let him hear,” Jesus is calling the apostles to listen like James instructed. He’s challenging them to use it or lose it.
“Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to His word; instead, put it into practice.”
James 1:22 GNT
https://bible.com/bible/68/jas.1.22.GNT
““For to everyone who has [and values his blessings and gifts from God, and has used them wisely], more will be given, and [he will be richly supplied so that] he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have [because he has ignored or disregarded his blessings and gifts from God], even what he does have will be taken away. [Matt 13:12; Luke 19:26]”
Matthew 25:29 AMP
https://bible.com/bible/1588/mat.25.29.AMP
When I was a young mom in a new community, I joined a Women’s Missionary Union group at my church where I was the junior member by several decades. I knew scripture’s mandate that older women should guide the younger women and as I hoped and expected, during each monthly meeting, I was loved and challenged by those precious ladies. One, a pastor’s widow who had received a college degree, one of the first awarded to a woman in our state, shared, “Every degree you attain removes you further from humanity.” I think of her every time I read the apostle Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth.
“When I came to you, my friends, to preach God’s secret truth, I did not use big words and great learning.
For while I was with you, I made up my mind to forget everything except Jesus Christ and especially his death on the cross.
So when I came to you, I was weak and trembled all over with fear, and my teaching and message were not delivered with skillful words of human wisdom, but with convincing proof of the power of God’s Spirit.
Your faith, then, does not rest on human wisdom but on God’s power.
Yet I do proclaim a message of wisdom to those who are spiritually mature.
But it is not the wisdom that belongs to this world or to the powers that rule this world—powers that are losing their power.
The wisdom I proclaim is God’s secret wisdom, which is hidden from human beings, but which he had already chosen for our glory even before the world was made.
None of the rulers of this world knew this wisdom. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
However, as the scripture says, “What no one ever saw or heard, what no one ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love him.”
But it was to us that God made known his secret by means of his Spirit.
The Spirit searches everything, even the hidden depths of God’s purposes.
We have not received this world’s spirit; instead, we have received the Spirit sent by God, so that we may know all that God has given us.
Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God’s Spirit.
Such a person really does not understand them, and they seem to be nonsense, because their value can be judged only on a spiritual basis.”
1 Corinthians 2:1-10, 12, 14 GNT
https://bible.com/bible/68/1co.2.4-14.GNT
“I do this in order that they may be filled with courage and may be drawn together in love, and so have the full wealth of assurance which true understanding brings.
In this way they will know God’s secret, which is Christ himself.
He is the key that opens all the hidden treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge.
I tell you, then, do not let anyone deceive you with false arguments, no matter how good they seem to be.
Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him.
Keep your roots deep in him, build your lives on him, and become stronger in your faith, as you were taught.
And be filled with thanksgiving.”
Colossians 2:2-4, 6-7 GNT
https://bible.com/bible/68/col.2.3.GNT
Fielding questions from my three and almost four year old grandchildren while reading Bible stories humbles me. For all I know of Scripture, what matters most is how well I am able to communicate it to others. Jesus’s promise to His first followers remains one of my favorite verses because it is a promise He keeps to me daily.
“The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and make you remember all that I have told you.”
John 14:26 GNT
https://bible.com/bible/68/jhn.14.26.GNT
In His High Priestly prayer captured in the seventeenth chapter of John, Jesus included me among His followers for whom He prayed. You will find yourself there as well.
““I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message.”
John 17:20 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.17.20.NLT
My faith in Jesus makes me a beneficiary of all His many promises
“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.
We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises.
These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises.
Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter 1:3-8 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2pe.1.3-8.NLT
Peter and Paul would have received red marks on their paper indicating run on sentences quite frequently had they sat under any of my English teachers in school. Grammatically speaking, verses five through seven of Second Peter One have been been translated as one sentence or as several sentences. I am a visual learner. Pictures aid my memory and I hold several images that aid in my understanding of this passage in my mind.
Supplements are vitamins I take to meet deficiencies in my diet. Moral excellence, knowledge, self control, patient endurance, godliness, and brotherly affection are Holy Spirit infused supplements to my faith. My fitting response to God’s great promises is to make every effort to receive them. The list is less a tower, as I used to imagine, where each attribute, stacked neatly and in order, would stabilize my faith. It’s more like the picture I’ve included, made for me by my grandson, Thomas, who throughly enjoys stickers. The Spirit’s additions to strengthen my faith are crowded in and overlapping exactly when and where I need Him most.
“For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.
And he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.”
2 Corinthians 1:20, 22 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/2co.1.20-22.NLT
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
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