LEGACYouth: Setting the Table

When I say ‘set the table’, what immediately comes to mind?

Dinner? Chore? Family? ‘Power off’?

I know for me I’m reminded of one my favorite scenes in one of my favorite movies: the classic “Food!” chant in Twister when the chasers try to convince Jo to swing by her Aunt Meg’s for some sustenance.   

However we approach the phrase, chances are we’re thinking about one of life’s most basic essentials being satisfied. After all, we can’t live without consuming nourishment.

Yet, while physically, cravings are interspersed, continually coming and going, when we talk about spiritual nourishment, we’re talking about a completely different kind of filling.

You see, often times, we talk about spiritual hunger and fullness in exclusive terms (i.e. gotta get hungry, then I gotta get filled, and then I gotta get full, stay full, etc.)

But when we dive into the Word, we find that’s not how it works.

‘Cause as we inevitably find, there’s a difference between being filled and being full.

For ‘to be filled’ implies imminent pouring into, to be ‘filled to the brim’; however, ‘to be full’ suggests ongoing permeation - a spreading through process which takes our brimming containers and allows them to overflow. In essence, to go after fullness is to fill up with the intent to pour out, specifically strength, encouragement & comfort.

Ephesians 1 and Colossians 1 confirm this:

While this may tough to initially understand, the takeaway here is: we, as the body, we are God’s fullness in the sense we can know the wonderful purpose of God for us and given us the task of expressing Christ to the world.

So for the next couple months, we’re going to take our recent ‘unity in community’ focus and build upon it by 1) spending more time under the faucet together (i.e. waiting and filling up in God’s presence, allowing God to overwhelm us so he can overflow us) and 2) spending more time in the dining room together (i.e. tasting and seeing that God is good, feasting at the table of God’s goodness, coming together to learn how to be full on God, allowing that goodness to move on hearts and open eyes). This may mean less teaching and more activation as more corporate courage is summoned, but honestly, I believe that’s part of the next level God wants to take us as he not only refreshes us, but breaks down the wall between hunger and fullness…helping us walk in goodness, peace, and joy together (Romans 14:17).

My thought? Let's make like a 2006 Taco Bell commercial...'cause at the end of the day (and by day, I mean summer), I don't want to be just hungry, I want to overflow as one who can constantly say...

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