Christian Living

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This past News Year’s Day, my husband, sons and I were in Tampa, Florida for the Outback Bowl between the University of Tennessee (Go Big Orange!) and Penn State. Early in the first quarter, my oldest son went to the concession stand and returned with a heaping basket of juicy wings, steaming hot and drowning in a spicy, golden sauce.

Suddenly, everybody sitting in his immediate vicinity took their eyes off the field and feasted them upon the wings. With lip-smackin’ envy, we watched him saw through the wings like a beaver buzzes through logs, pausing only to lick each finger with great gusto. Lost in tasty oblivion, he didn’t notice this small circle of droolers until we were shadowing his food like vultures ready to take aim at road kill.

“What?” he asked, protectively cradling his wings.

Not taking my eyes off a wing that was especially plump, I said, “Don’t you hate it when people take an interest in your food—because you know they’re going to ask for some?”

He nodded, but loving son that he is, offered me the wing.

I started thinking about the interest we have in food, and not just what pleases our own palates, but also in what morsels cross the lips of others. The next time you’re in a restaurant, watch the waiter swoop by with a tray of culinary delights. All eyes in range will follow that tray, strain to see what’s on it and comment as the waiter serves it— to someone else.

There are times when a person’s interest in another’s food goes beyond admiration. Back when I was in the corporate world, I joined a group of co-workers for dinner one evening. As a friend and I shared an appetizer of mozzarella sticks and marina sauce, we noticed a guy from accounting gazing upon our appetizer like a lovesick puppy.

“You want a cheese stick?” my friend offered, pushing the plate towards him.

Well, the guy’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree and he exclaimed, “THANK YOU!” To our saucer-eyed surprise, though, he didn’t take “a” cheese stick. No, he grabbed the entire plate and proceeded to enjoy, right down to the last golden crumb. Though we never figured out where he got the green light to scarf it all down, his zest for our food proved one thing: people really do want what someone else is eating.

Why the desire? Maybe it’s because the food looks good, and people think it’s something they might enjoy having, too

The same could be said about a person’s spiritual plate—or rather, the fruit that’s on it. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Several years ago, my brother-in-law joined an old buddy for a long weekend at the beach. Typical of old times, they fished, threw steaks on the grill and talked guy-stuff. Not-so-typical, though, was the friend’s demeanor, attitudes and outlook on life. Something was different—in a good way.

“I didn’t know what was different about him,” my brother-in-law said. “I only knew this: whatever it was, I wanted it, too.”

He later learned that his friend had begun a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The “difference” my brother-in-law saw was the manifestation of spiritual fruit—and it whet his appetite for Jesus. After the trip, his hunger grew and it wasn’t long until he, too, had a new dining companion in Christ.

The story about my brother-in-law always reminds me of an experience I had in a Bible Study, one I’ve written about before but think is worth repeating. As our leader spoke about spiritual fruits, she strolled around the room with a bowl of grapes in her arms. Pausing throughout the lesson to savor those fat, luscious grapes, she had the whole class salivating like cats in a fish hatchery. When she finally offered us some, we pounced, which prompted her to say, “That’s the thing about the fruit of the Spirit—when you’ve got it, EVERYBODY wants it!”

With that in mind, let’s keep our spiritual plates full of good fruit by remaining in the vine that produces it. That vine is Jesus, who said in John 15: 5, “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing.”

Remember, people ARE checking out what’s on our plate. We want that fruit to look good—so good that they can’t resist asking where we got it.

©Donna G. Morton, January 2007

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