We can only imagine

If you have ever seen me you can tell I’m not a foodie. My favorite food group is sugar. I could live on Dr. Pepper and candy, preferably chocolate candy. I used to have a little coffee with my sugar. One year on Father’s Day the Blonde bought me donuts for breakfast, made French Toast for lunch and then made cinnamon rolls for dinner.

I really only eat to maintain life, I’m just not that into food but there is a new BBQ place in my hometown that is only open on Friday and Saturday and I gotta tell you that when Friday rolls around at 11 a.m. I am ready for a chopped beef sandwich and of course some banana pudding. I crave this stuff like a pregnant woman craving pickles and ice cream. I go to bed Thursday night thinking about it and that’s just not like me.

We see this kind of craving at a spiritual level in Acts 2:42-47. We see the early Christians “devoted” daily to the Word of God, to hanging out with each other where they shared meals including communion or the Lord’s Supper. They were committed to prayer; in essence they were committed to worshiping the Lord on a regular basis. The result of these devoted hearts was unity beyond anything most of us have ever experienced, they were all for one and one for all. God blessed these Christians by expanding the tribe, the community saw how they lived, and they liked what they saw.

Why don’t we crave relationships not only with one another but also with God at that level? Why don’t we crave selflessness over selfishness? Why don’t we crave Jesus and a church experience like this first century example like we crave the world’s greatest chopped beef sandwich and the best banana pudding ever made?

I served at a church once that had a deacon named Dave (every church should have a deacon named Dave) and Dave did a lot in the church (it’s what deacons do - they serve) and so Dave would stop by my office every couple of days and I liked that - it was a blessing. It got to where I looked for Dave to come by and chat for a few minutes, tell me he loved but also showed me he loved me by his friendship. What I’m saying is I started to crave the things that my friendship Deacon Dave offered me. Those times of prayer, discussing Scripture, challenging one another to live out our faith at the next level. Since we moved, I miss that. I still crave it and I wait for the next “Dave” that God will put in my life.

Here’s the deal. Relationships like this should not be few and far between. They should be normal for the Christian. We all crave these relationships, we all crave community like we see in Scripture, the Creator wired us for it. I’m blessed, the Blonde tells me I have a lot of good friends, people I can trust, people that love me without strings attached and are open and honest, people that love Jesus a lot.

I’m not sure that’s what most people experience and that bums me out. They are missing out on some of the greatest benefi ts of being a Christian. What if we started praying for God to satisfy these cravings of love and community? What if we started being the kind of friend that we want to have? What if we became less distracted by this world and became more devoted to God and His people? Like the song, “We can only imagine.”

He told me to tell you that.