Our Spiritual Diet: “Top Chef Challenge"

Jesus said to the crowd, “You are looking for me, not because you saw signs,

but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”  --John 6: 26

Have you noticed the number of food-related shows on television these days?  We as a society seem to be fixated on food.  We are fascinated by how it is cooked, how it’s eaten, how it’s made. We even are entertained by seeing how much food someone can eat, how fast he can eat it, and how hot he can stand for it to be!  We seem to be obsessed with food!

We are so fixated on these things we put into our body, but what about what we put into our minds?  What about what we put into our hearts? 

During the month of August, I’m preaching a sermon series on our spiritual diets.  I’ve paired the gospel lectionary texts with some popular cooking shows to see what we might include in our spiritual diets that might satisfy our souls.

First, let’s consider adding the ingredient of gratitude to our lives, as we look at the “Top Chef Challenge” the crowds presented to Jesus.

In the reality television show, Top Chef, contestants are judged by a panel of professional chefs who set up spectacular challenges for them.  And if they are able to accomplish the task, the judges set another one that is even more difficult than the first! One challenge was to create a two-egg breakfast dish in ten minutes—using only one hand.  On a Christmas episode, each contestant had to choose a wrapped gift from under the tree, and use whatever ingredients were inside to whip up a dish.  Another time the chefs had to prepare a four-course meal consisting of scallops, lobster, duck and Kobe beef.  They were given 30 minutes to shop with a limited budget, and only two hours to prepare the entire four-course dinner. 

No accomplishment is ever enough, no achievement exciting enough, stupendous enough, fantastic enough.  The judges always want more.

When the crowd followed Jesus to the other side of the sea, they were challenging him as if he were a contestant in Top Chef Challenge.  Jesus had just performed an incredible miracle.  In a crowd of five thousand men alone, plus women and children, Jesus took five loaves of bread and two fish and multiplied them into enough food to feed everyone—with some leftover!  But instead of being grateful for this miracle, instead of recognizing this as a sign that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the one who would bring them salvation, they ran after Jesus clamoring for more. 

Oh, you gave us bread and fish?  We liked that!  You get a good score and go on to the final challenge!  Let’s see what you can do next! 

Instead of being grateful for what Jesus had given them, they had a “what have you done for me lately” attitude.

It’s no wonder Jesus went off to be by himself to pray.  When they realized he wasn’t there, they followed him, hounding him like obnoxious paparazzi going after the latest celebrity.  Jesus knew that they had followed him “not because you saw the signs,” he said, “but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (v. 26). 

How often is this our attitude?  We challenge God with more and more requests, instead of recognizing what God has done for us and being grateful.

Think about your prayers. Are you in the habit of praying those “I’m-late-again-please-let-me-find-a-parking-place” prayers, seeing God as a magic genie who will give you what you wish for?  How much of your prayer time is spent thanking God, and how much is spent asking for things?

Spiritual maturity includes recognizing the love and sacrifice of God and expressing our gratitude.  Just as it pleases a parent to receive thanks from a child, so it pleases God when we thank him.  But gratitude is not only something we do for God; it is something we do for ourselves.  Adding the ingredient of gratitude to our spiritual diets helps us to be happier and healthier people.

You’ve heard the saying, “Have an attitude of gratitude.”  Gratitude really is a choice we make about what kind of perspective we are going to have about the world. When we have an attitude of gratitude, we may be amazed at the blessings we have received that we might otherwise have overlooked.  This helps us appreciate the simple things in life that mean so much--the stranger who stopped in the grocery store parking lot to help you pick up a dropped grocery bag, the compliment from a co-worker, the joy of reading to a child, the opportunity to help someone in need.  And studies have shown that people who practice gratitude actually have healthier and happier lives! 

One way to add the ingredient of gratitude to our lives is to keep a gratitude journal.  There are a number of packaged gratitude journals on the market that people can buy to record their blessings, but all you really is need is a blank book or notebook.  And while it is a good idea simply to list things for which you are thankful, I would encourage you to keep a spiritual gratitude journal.  Before you go to bed at night, think back over the day.  Write about where you saw God at work in your life or in people or events around you.  Write down at least five blessings you have received during the day, and give thanks to God for those blessings.  You may even want to write a prayer of gratitude to God.  

You might also meditate on a verse of scripture, like Psalm 136: 1:  “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!  His steadfast love endures forever.”  Or use the text of a favorite hymn to help you express your gratitude, such as, “For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love which from our birth over and around us lies.  For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child; friends on earth and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild, Lord of all, to thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise.”  What beautiful words to help us count our blessings and express our thanks to God.

When we are grateful, we feel a connection with God and with other people that is strong and deep and true.  Practicing gratitude, adding the ingredient of gratitude to our lives, nourishes us so that we may be whole and healthy and happy people. 

Jesus said, “Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life . . . I am the bread of life.  Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”  Let’s give thanks for this gift!