You cannot make this stuff up. My son called us on the phone to tell us about the latest exploits of his family’s pet cat. But first, a little background…
“S.J.” (the name of his cat) has not necessarily led a charmed life. In his short time on earth, he has fallen off the porch rail and broken his right hip. That required extensive surgery, including a pin in his hip.
It took forever for him to heal, having to learn to walk on three legs before on four all over again. Thereafter, he got caught in someone’s “Have A Heart” trap some distance from their house. He was gone for about a week before he got out of that one.
After this, he got outfitted with an Apple Air Tag on his collar. In short order, he disappeared again. The Air Tag showed him in a given location; but he was nowhere to be seen. Later, he showed back up at the house minus a collar and his Air Tag.
And now, for the kicker… Earlier today, he threw up on their front porch. And what did he disgorge? You guessed it. His chewed up collar! He has now been refitted with yet another, stronger collar and yet another Air Tag. It remains to be seen what the future holds for either. Or for that matter, for poor ol’ “S.J.” himself!
Now, don’t get me wrong. I wish the poor creature no ill will. But, it won’t surprise me if the next phone call I get form my son contains the eloquent quote from Cousin Eddy in Christmas Vacation, “If that cat had nine lives, he just spent ‘em all!”
After a hearty laugh at my son’s latest update in the saga of the ongoing adventures of “S.J.”, I found myself thinking about the spiritual truth that underlies this most recent episode.
If you think about it, cats are not the only ones to swallow things unfit for consumption! People do it all the time!
Seriously, I’ve known people who have hungered for and strived for any one of a thousand “must haves”. Yet, once they have gotten themselves a belly full of clothes, jewellery, cash, cars, trucks, motorcycles, ATVs, boats, jet skis, lake lots, beach houses, season tickets, and the like, they have quickly discovered that it left them with a rather sour stomach.
In the opening chapters of the Bible, we read about the very first man and woman, Adam and Eve. Though all their needs were supplied by God in the Garden of Eden, it wasn’t enough for them. They just had to have more. Thus, they chose to go after, acquire, and consume that one thing which they did not have, and which was not meant for them to consume – fruit from the forbidden tree.
What did it get them? A belly full of trouble, that’s what! “S.J.” the cat could simply regurgitate that which did not agree with him. But not so for Adam and Eve. Once consumed, the forbidden fruit forever poisoned them. Not so much in body as in spirit! For it ate a hole in their souls and made them deathly sick spiritually. And ever since, men and women have had that same void within. Sadly, they have continued to attempt to fill that void with any and everything imaginable.
But only one thing will fill that void. Given that it is a spiritual hole, it must be filled with spiritual substance. And that substance is found only in He Who came to us as the Bread of Life! Only in eating of that Bread will we be truly filled, truly nurtured, and truly satisfied.
As Jesus, Himself, said in the New Testament Gospel of John (chapter 6, verse 35): “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again.” Later in that same chapter (verse 51), He further states: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
And so, my friend, “What’s in your stomach?!” Better yet, what’s in your soul?! I hope it is not merely worldly provision, but is instead the true “Living Bread … from Heaven”! For this alone is the only true staff of life! All other sustenance is bound, inevitably, to make you sick, and thereafter, to leave you with “that empty feeling”!
SCRIPTURE:
https://biblehub.com/niv/genesis/3.htm;
https://biblehub.com/john/6-35.htm;
https://biblehub.com/john/6-51.htm.
“S.J.” (the name of his cat) has not necessarily led a charmed life. In his short time on earth, he has fallen off the porch rail and broken his right hip. That required extensive surgery, including a pin in his hip.
It took forever for him to heal, having to learn to walk on three legs before on four all over again. Thereafter, he got caught in someone’s “Have A Heart” trap some distance from their house. He was gone for about a week before he got out of that one.
After this, he got outfitted with an Apple Air Tag on his collar. In short order, he disappeared again. The Air Tag showed him in a given location; but he was nowhere to be seen. Later, he showed back up at the house minus a collar and his Air Tag.
And now, for the kicker… Earlier today, he threw up on their front porch. And what did he disgorge? You guessed it. His chewed up collar! He has now been refitted with yet another, stronger collar and yet another Air Tag. It remains to be seen what the future holds for either. Or for that matter, for poor ol’ “S.J.” himself!
Now, don’t get me wrong. I wish the poor creature no ill will. But, it won’t surprise me if the next phone call I get form my son contains the eloquent quote from Cousin Eddy in Christmas Vacation, “If that cat had nine lives, he just spent ‘em all!”
After a hearty laugh at my son’s latest update in the saga of the ongoing adventures of “S.J.”, I found myself thinking about the spiritual truth that underlies this most recent episode.
If you think about it, cats are not the only ones to swallow things unfit for consumption! People do it all the time!
Seriously, I’ve known people who have hungered for and strived for any one of a thousand “must haves”. Yet, once they have gotten themselves a belly full of clothes, jewellery, cash, cars, trucks, motorcycles, ATVs, boats, jet skis, lake lots, beach houses, season tickets, and the like, they have quickly discovered that it left them with a rather sour stomach.
In the opening chapters of the Bible, we read about the very first man and woman, Adam and Eve. Though all their needs were supplied by God in the Garden of Eden, it wasn’t enough for them. They just had to have more. Thus, they chose to go after, acquire, and consume that one thing which they did not have, and which was not meant for them to consume – fruit from the forbidden tree.
What did it get them? A belly full of trouble, that’s what! “S.J.” the cat could simply regurgitate that which did not agree with him. But not so for Adam and Eve. Once consumed, the forbidden fruit forever poisoned them. Not so much in body as in spirit! For it ate a hole in their souls and made them deathly sick spiritually. And ever since, men and women have had that same void within. Sadly, they have continued to attempt to fill that void with any and everything imaginable.
But only one thing will fill that void. Given that it is a spiritual hole, it must be filled with spiritual substance. And that substance is found only in He Who came to us as the Bread of Life! Only in eating of that Bread will we be truly filled, truly nurtured, and truly satisfied.
As Jesus, Himself, said in the New Testament Gospel of John (chapter 6, verse 35): “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again.” Later in that same chapter (verse 51), He further states: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
And so, my friend, “What’s in your stomach?!” Better yet, what’s in your soul?! I hope it is not merely worldly provision, but is instead the true “Living Bread … from Heaven”! For this alone is the only true staff of life! All other sustenance is bound, inevitably, to make you sick, and thereafter, to leave you with “that empty feeling”!
SCRIPTURE:
https://biblehub.com/niv/genesis/3.htm;
https://biblehub.com/john/6-35.htm;
https://biblehub.com/john/6-51.htm.