Food Critic or Food Server?

By pastorbillwalden

I just returned from another week in Mexico.  I have been there 10 out of the last 14 days.  This last week was not fun.  The first 24 hours I enjoyed my usual portions of tacos, rice, and egg dishes, but Wednesday night, we found a “nice” restaurant that served “Enselata de Cheffe”.  That sounded good, so I ordered it.  I didn’t stop to check that “Enselata de Cheffe” translated into “eat this and you’ll be sicker than a dog”.  Yup, the next two days were spent in my hotel room doing what sick tourists do.  Let the reader beware.

I appreciate good food, and will go a bit out of my way for a good meal, the word “bit” being somewhat relative depending on what I am craving.  So yeah, I can be a bit snobby when it comes to food.  I have really grown (no pun intended) to appreciate the fine dining found in the Napa Valley.

But I was thinking about food critics, and how over the top and extreme restaurant reviews, etc., can be.  A good meal is one thing.  Extreme, opinionated diatribes about food…me no like.  At some point, it seems ridiculous. Chef wars?  No thanks.  Baking competition?  Uh, no…unless I am judging. 

This last Tuesday – Saturday, I was in Tecuala, Nayarit, Mexico.  I was scheduled to speak at a Christian Leadership Conference for multiple denominations.  I only attended the first and last session, thanks to the Chef Salad Surprise, but I was there long enough to be reminded of something that is good for me to remember.

Food critics probably never go hungry.  They are surrounded by an abundance of food, multiple restaurants, and dozens of chefs that are looking for their approval.  They have the luxury of being able to be picky and opinionated about what they eat, and probably never struggle with any lack of nutritious or enjoyable meals.

In Mexico, there is a famine for the Word of God.
Amos 8:11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord GOD, “That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord.”

The application of this verse doesn’t fit Mexico as it was intended for Israel thousands of years ago, but the imagery is powerful.  There is a lack of spiritual nourishment among God’s people in Mexico.  It isn’t that God is withholding His Word, but it is that His people won’t come to the Table.  They are alive, but undernourished, sickly, and diseased.

“Apostles” and “prophets” go from church to church, announcing the “word of the Lord”, and asking/expecting/manipulating big honorariums out of the people.  One pastor we met approached us and asked why the different prophets coming through his church were contradicting each other.  Another pastor was told by a prophet to sell everything and move to Tecuala from a bordering state.  His family and 15 other families uprooted and moved because of the “word of the prophet”.  He went from having a thriving church to now having extreme financial struggles, and seemingly becoming bitter because of all of this. The stories of spiritual abuse and childish immaturity abound.

I am not a cessationist, but I also know that we are to watch out for false prophets and teachers.  We are to measure their words and lives by God’s Word.

I was reminded that the American Church is FAT with God’s word.  We have more than we could ever ingest, and I believe that many among us develop a “food critic’s” mentality.  We pick, we choose, we debate, we discuss, we hop from church to church, etc.  We exalt our favorite “this or that”, or “him or her”, and we forget that we are blessed well beyond what many Christians in the world have been able to learn about Jesus Christ.

Spiritual debate and critique can be useful, but if that is all one does, then we miss the point that while we debate, others are spiritual starving, even some who have access to the Word, but have not developed a habit of spiritual feeding.

This week has helped me to resolve to be less of a “food critic” and more of a “food server”.  To whom much has been given, of him, much more is required.

If you have “tasted and seen that the Lord is good”, make a deliberate effort to “bring someone to the table.”  Serve at your church.  Teach a kid.  Work at a VBS.  Gather with others and read, teach, discuss the Bible or other good Christian literature.  Give away your pastor’s teaching cd’s.  Buy a book for someone.  Lend a dvd.  Freely you have received, freely give.

This isn’t simply a matter of what we “ought to do”.  It is a matter of what people “need us to do”.  Take a personal inventory, and ask yourself if you are more of a critic, or a server.

Blessings…