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No More Cheese and Crackers

October 29, 2019

There was an Italian man who decided to sell everything he had to immigrate to the United States during the turn of the 20th century. He barely had enough money to buy a ticket to a ship to the U.S. Because he didn’t have much money left, he went and bought some cheese and crackers to eat during the journey to the U.S. Everyday, for breakfast, lunch and dinner, he ate his cheese and crackers. While he was eating this, everybody else was in the ship’s dining hall. He could smell the aroma of lobster, filet mignon, cabernet sauvignon and other delicious food. He was getting sick and tired of eating just cheese and crackers. On the 6th day of the journey, he went to the captain and said, “I’ll do anything you want. I’ll do the dishes. Clean the bathroom. Sweep the floor. Anything! Just let me have one meal in the dining room.” Then, the captain looking perplexed, said to him, “But sir, the meals are included with the ticket.”

God did not redeem us to live cheese and cracker lives. Meals are included with the ticket. God does not just forgive our sins and make us Christians and give us the Great Commission and say good luck and bye bye. God has given us the Holy Spirit and it is His deep desire that we all live lives in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

You see the Holy Spirit is not an end but a beginning. Jesus sent the comforter as our constant companion, one who yes, comforts, but also strengthens and empowers us to carry out the things to which he has called us. It is His intention that we fulfill His Great Commission, heal the sick, clothe the naked and feed the poor. He expects all of this and more of us, yet He has provided all we will need for the journey. Through Holy Spirit everything we have need of is included, there is simply no need for us to live “cheese and cracker” lives.