Have you ever dined at a restaurant where the food was great but the service was horrible, the restaurant was dirty and the surrounding environment was just unpleasant? Or you may experience wonderful service in a cleanly restaurant with an environment that is quite welcoming, but the food didn’t necessarily meet up to your expectation. Even if the food was excellent, the service and environment would probably deter me from returning. For me a filthy restaurant makes me think of a dirty kitchen which ultimately leads to the thought of dirty food, which I ate. Yuck! But if the food is not up to par, but the service I received was outstanding and the restaurant was pleasant, the chances of my return are very high. The food doesn’t seem to be as bad when the service is excellent. Well, I guess we can’t always have our cake and eat it too. This is definitely true in my case because my cake may explode prior to being edible. Anywho, with whatever scenario I face, my expectation is curved to one side or other, it is normally a deciding factor in whether I will return for another dining experience.
Dining with God works the same way. What you first encounter curves your expectation for the next visit. Everything around you serves as a deciding factor on whether your dinner experience is worth a return. The friendliness of your waitress(es) (the Church Greeter and Church Family), the cleanliness of the facility (the Church), the calming pleasant environment (pre-service prayer), the appetizer (the Worship Service) the main course (the Sermon), and what we all look forward to, the desert (the Alter Call) are all contributing factors in a guest experience. I have been to restaurants where I just loved, loved, loved the food and service. And because of the wonderful first encounter, I have forgiven a bad food selection or mediocre service I may have received at a future visit because I know what they can provide and maybe they are having an off day.
This is why it is so important that the saints of the church seek the face of God in every service and serve a feast at dinner time. What we dish out, is what our guest will reel in. As excellently put by Tommy Tenney, “When people get just a little touch of God mixed with a lot of something that is not God, it inoculates them against the real thing. Once they’ve been ‘inoculated’ by a crumb of God’s presence, then when we say ‘God really is here’; they say ‘No. I’ve been there, done that, I bought the T-shirt, and I didn’t find Him; it really didn’t work for me’” I don’t want my guest eating tuna when they can have escargot. I don’t want them to have day-old bread when they can heave a loaf fresh from the oven. I want them to have Jesus and what I do contributes to how much of Jesus they will have. What I do will answer the question, are they feasting or snacking on Him?
Last week I was blessed to be able to attend our Western District Ladies conference. This is my favorite conference every year. I look forward to my soul being fed by the services as well as the fellowship. And each year, I wonder how they are going to outdo the last and each year they have not failed me. They outdo the last. Although the theme of this conference was “Into His Sanctuary”, it could have been easily called “Feasting in His Sanctuary”. We feasted on the presence of God. We experienced Him and served our guest with caviar and escargot. We served the thousand dollar plates on a twenty dollar budget. It was awesome! Friday night was one of those services where we really couldn’t get any teaching because God was teaching us how to feast on Him. We created an atmosphere that welcomed God and we didn’t reject Him when He showed up. Although we don’t bask in the glory of God for anyone but God, it was our basking that helped the lost be saved, the bound to be delivered, the sick to be healed, and the weak to be made strong. It was our feasting in the Sanctuary that helped others walk into the Sanctuary. Hallelujah!!!
I don’t really know how to end this blog because I got myself all pumped up. I will say this, as best said by Tommy Tenney, “If God’s glory can’t flow through the aisles of the church because of seducing spirits and manipulating men, then God will have to turn somewhere else…” I don’t want God to pass me up. I don’t want Him to pass up my family, friends, coworkers, etc. I want all to come and Feast in the Presence of God. It does start with me. As long as I do what I can, God will do the rest. I create the atmosphere; God will enter it and do His marvelous work.
