I remember hearing a story many years ago about a mystical forest. Some children stumbled upon a very otherworldly sweet shop run by a kindly old gentleman. It was his greatest delight to give all the children who came amazing sweets for free. He would explain to them that in this magical place the more they ate the better it would always get, in fact, they wouldn’t even be full! Well back to the real world. This month we’ve been hearing of the large supermarket chains finally putting bans in place over the sale of high sugar and highly-caffeinated drinks to children under 16.
One teaching union general secretary said: “The very high levels of caffeine and sugar these drinks contain impact adversely on pupil behaviour in schools and teachers are left to deal with the fallout.” Isn’t it a strange thing that everything that we tend to love and even sometimes crave e.g. cheese, chocolate, steaks, sweets etc., always become bad for us when we start to max out on them. I think, however, like our children’s story, there is an exception that Jesus brings to our attention in the realm of gorging on “spiritual food”, he says:
“Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
His words build off an Old Testament foundation where we find a tantalizing invitation from our gracious heavenly Father:
“Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live.”
Well tuck in! #ForChildren #ForAll #RareExcess
