I was fed today – more spiritually than physically – but then it was my spirit more than my body that needed nourishment today. The menu for this meal is a simple one, one which hasn’t changed over time. Actually, this meal is over two-thousand years old and I have partaken of it many times in the past. I am always grateful to have a seat at the table.

So today, on my favorite day, Sunday, I find myself sitting in my favorite seat, my seat at the table. Surrounded by sinners and saints alike, all of us singing our hearts out to God, I settle into the service as sunlight pours through the stained glass – stained glass that has stood for more than a century, watching over and witnessing the worship of generation after generation.

The meal we shared today started with Jesus and His disciples. It was called the Last Supper because it was the last meal Jesus shared with them before His crucifixion. That Last Supper became the first of many meals shared down through the ages, now called communion or the Lord’s Supper.

That night in the upper room, it was bread and wine that were shared. Today it is often crackers and juice, but the purpose of the shared food remains the same. It is for us to remember something vitally important.

” . . . You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

I was bought at a price? I was bought at a price! And what a price it was that was paid!

“because You (Jesus) were slain, and with Your blood You purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9)

Jesus paid my price, my debt to God, with His own body and blood given on the cross to make atonement for my sin, so I could have a place in God’s kingdom, a seat at His table, a relationship with Him as one who has been redeemed, released from debt and reconciled to God.

Why blood? Hebrews 9:22 tells me why and Leviticus 17:11 explains further the necessity of the blood sacrifice.

“In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”

And so I drank the juice today, remembering these words from Matthew 26:27-28,

“Then He (Jesus) took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’ ”

And I ate the cracker today while listening to these familiar words from Luke 22:19,

“And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ ”

That’s why I am called to His table – to remember. I need to remember the price that was paid for me. I need to remember Whose I am. Because when I know Whose I am then I know who I am. (there’s that identity thing again, post #88 identity)

My Savior, who died on that cross, doesn’t want me to forget the price that He paid to redeem my soul for eternity. He doesn’t want me to forget who I am in Him. Now I readily confess – I am prone to forgetfulness. But my Heavenly Father wants to remind me that I am His image bearer because I am created in His image.

Sometimes we need a meal to help us remember. The Lord’s Supper is that meal. It is a meal of reflection and remembrance. It is a meal of repentance and restoration. It is a meal of renewal and reaffirmation of my calling in Christ, lest I forget at what price I was purchased. Lest I forget that my sin debt has been paid in full.

The world may put a price on me and on you, dear reader, but it won’t be a true reflection of our worth. It will be based on possessions, appearance, achievements, fame, talent etc. – a whole host of ever changing circumstances. But my worth, your worth, in Christ never changes because He never changes.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

And we are of infinite value to Him. Consider what Jesus says in Matthew 10:29-31,

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

The same One who holds every star in place holds onto me! I will not be misplaced! or forgotten. or abandoned.

“He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.” (Isaiah 40:26)

I will not go missing either. Sharing in this meal today, reminds me once again, just what great lengths God went to, just how great a price He paid to redeem my soul. This knowledge is more than I can grasp just as Paul says in Ephesians 3:18-19,

“may (you) have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Today I was filled to the measure once again as I remembered and reflected on His body and His blood, broken and poured out for me and for you on that cross so long ago. Jesus paid the highest price, the ultimate price for me and for you.

” . . . He poured out His life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:12)

“he was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

today I ate at His table, this meal of remembrance. may I never forget Whose I am and at what a price I was purchased . . .

sincerely, Grace Day

Why is it I feel like my spiritual walk too often resembles my physical walk?  By this I refer to the fact that I plod along day after day, it is not pretty, it is not graceful, it is not exciting, just one foot in front of the other, one step at a time, so slow, so weighted down with  . . .

with what?  with the cares of the world?   with the hurts and the heartaches life inflicts?  with the losses and the loneliness they inevitably bring?  with the worries and the wounds others inflict?  with sorrow over events surrounding me that I cannot control?  with the burdens I choose to carry by refusing to lay them down? not willing to leave them behind? not willing to hand them over? or unwilling to share them with others?

I confess – in my heart I am a runner, running great distances, overcoming great obstacles, ascending tall mountains, feeling the freedom of the wind and the joy of my speed  . . . but my body does not know this.  My body walks, glued to the ground, when all the while, my spirit wants to soar.  I am ready for that promise in Isaiah 40:29 & 31 which says,

“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.   those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

I want to soar with the eagles.  The view is different from up there.  I just know it.

“declares the Lord.  ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.’ ”  (Isaiah 55:9)

But that view is not mine at the moment, so I don’t get to soar by sight, mine is to walk by faith and not by sight – even though it feels more like plodding and I don’t see progress.  But then my view is so limited.

And in my view, I am a plodder.  So I checked on the definition of the word “plod” and found that the definition of plod, as it turns out, is “to walk heavily/slowly under the weight of a burden.”  So this burden thing is not my imagination – it is real.  How many of us feel like we are carrying extra weight as we are walking by faith as we run this race we call our lives?

That must be why Hebrews 12:1 tells me to, ” . . . throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us (me) run with perseverance the race marked out for us (me).”

Maybe that’s why 1 Peter 5:7 tells me to “Cast all your (my) anxiety (cares) on God because He cares for you (me).”

I don’t have to carry this extra weight, these heavy burdens.  It is my choice.  Jesus made an offer in Matthew 11:28-30 to anyone and to everyone who  was willing. To any and to all of us plodders, trudging wearily through life, Jesus issued this wonderful invitation saying,

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

King David knew this secret, that we don’t have to bear our burdens alone.  He said in Psalm 68:19,

“Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.”

King David knew that we could throw off everything that hinders us in our race, he knew we have been invited to cast all our cares on God, he knew that it is God who will never leave us nor forsake us, but instead, it is God who will walk with us and in so doing will daily bear our burdens.

This is wonderful news for a plodder like me, who longs to be a runner with wings, who wishes to be a soarer with the eagles.  David understood.  He said something else very revealing in Psalm 18:33 when he praised God saying,

“You make my feet run as fast as those of a deer, and You help me stand on the mountains.”  (Contemporary English Version)

Another translation says, ” . . .  He causes me to stand on the heights.”  Just what a plodder like me longs for!  A view from the heights!  The feeling of freedom running as swiftly as a deer would bring.

But I must run my race, literally walk/plod my race, without that view.  Why? Because I don’t run this race for myself but for my Heavenly Father.  And He desires that I do as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:7,

“For we walk by faith, not by sight.”  (I’m noticing it says walk not run.)

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”  (Hebrews 11:6)

“Abram believed (had faith in) the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.”   (Genesis 15:6)

So I guess it’s faith that’s important, not sight?  It is by faith that I walk on each day.  It is by faith I do what Paul talks about in Philippians 3:12-14 when he says,

” . . . I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do:  Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

I am told to press on, I wonder if that includes or involves plodding?  persistently, painstakingly, purposefully, persevering – plodding toward the goal.  Plodding is not pretty, it is not graceful.  Maybe if I would remember each day, to throw off what hinders, cast off my cares and take up Jesus’s yoke, my plodding walk of faith would look a little lighter.

In any case, I do have the assurance that one day my faith walk will be a joyous run without weariness and then a soaring on wings like the eagles.  In the meantime I am told,

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”  (Galatians 6:9)

“Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.”  (James 1:12)

it is for me to persevere, to plod on in faith, knowing it is God who bears my burdens, it is my Heavenly Father who is preparing me through all this plodding, to one day go on the high places He has in store for me –

until then, I will persevere, I will plod on  . . .  in faith, by faith, with faith

sincerely,        Grace Day