Come and Dine
By Michelle Shoemaker
Anyone else feel like they’ve been cleaning up a ton of dishes and glasses lately!? My kitchen has never been this busy. We’ve got seven people quarantining here (our three grown children [18-25 yr. olds], plus one spouse and a girlfriend). While we’ve had wonderful meals together, I feel like each time I turn around, there’s another sink FULL of dishes! “Hey… Am I the maid!?” is my historical rewind holler. But a couple of mornings ago, God inspired me to change my message. I heard: Love without expectation, without shame, and without condemnation. Love will change paradigms.
Now, my kids are all grown, and they know how to pick up after themselves. I have every “right” to be a bit frosted at a sink full of dishes (or a couch full of blankets, or unfinished crafts all over the house). But this week, the Spirit revealed the beauty of this unprecedented opportunity we’ve been given. How amazing is it that our kids have been mandated to stay home? What can I offer to those in my house right now, who would rather be anywhere else but here, stuck with mom and dad? (Especially the college freshman who had to move home.) What’s a few dirty dishes?
For years, I’ve been on my knees crying out to God for these precious kids of mine, especially in the last few years… for their choices, their futures, their future spouses; I’ve prayed that the Holy Spirit would powerfully encounter them, wreck them. And, equally as fervent, I’ve been crying out for myself ... for a better ability to hear His voice, to speak His words; for more power in prayer, healing, and furthering God’s Kingdom. My deepest desire is to be greatly used by Him. Yet there’s been a growing awareness, that the closer I get to God, the more my family seems to run ... in the opposite direction. They all love Jesus and intimately know Him, but lately, I seem to be getting a lot of rolled eyes and, “oh no, there she goes again!”
Asking Jesus for more authority is not a new thing. The disciples argued over who was the greatest among them, and they asked Jesus which one of them would get to sit at his right hand. Jesus’ response? His actions were his response. He takes off his sash, and gets down on his knees and He washes their feet. Over and over again throughout the Gospels, Jesus beckons us, “whoever wants to be the first must be least of all and a servant of all” (Mark 9.35). The way up to greater authority is down through humility. After his resurrection Jesus hosted an early morning fish fry on the beach for the disciples, and for Peter, who had just denied him three times. And three times, he asks Peter, “Do you love me?” Peter cries, “Yes Lord!” And, three times Jesus responds, “Feed my lambs… take care of my sheep … Feed my sheep” (John 21.15-19). Peter’s redemption and exaltation into one of the most powerful men our planet has ever known, came through his sacrifice of humility, and his offer of hospitality to the whole, gentile world.
We absolutely need to be praying big things right now, healing for our world and our nation, but the God of the universe, the Great Healer … wants to begin with us. His healing and world-changing authority for us will exponentially grow as we humbly offer hospitality in and through our homes to a hungry world. May we take advantage of this “ table" of opportunity that God has prepared for us in the presence of this (C-19) enemy. And, may strongholds be broken as we lean into loving without expectations, shame, or condemnation.
Col 3:12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience …And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.