Food For Thought
Photo By: The Delicious Life (Creative Commons)
There is nothing I like more than a good bag of chips. Nothing is more satisfying that digging into a fresh bag of salty slices of deep fried potato. I could easily sit and consume an entire bag without giving it or life a single thought.
I like plain chips – with ridges not flat, except Pringles. I like spicy chips, salty chips, chips with cheese and I really like BBQ chips. Recently, I discovered “kettle cooked” chips and let me just say, “where’s the next bag?”
No, really!
Well, I guess there are a couple things I like better than chips – pizza for example, fried chicken – definitely, rock n’ roll, the Harry Potter books – not so much the movies Oh, and spending time with my wife and son – aawww.
And, to be honest, I guess there are more satisfying things like a warm shower, the sound of people laughing at my jokes, watching my son grow up, seeing the Buccaneers devastate the Eagles in the 2002 NFC Championship game, oh, and spending time with my wife and son.
Notice a pattern?
But man, do I ever like chips and I love the Bible – natural combo right? Oh, I like Combos too.
Open Up a Bag
The Bible opens, like a bag of chips with a fresh sense of endless possibilities. When you open either you’re excited from the first moment ‘till you polish off the last crumb. I frequently tip the bag over into my mouth to every last one.
You do too – admit it!
Like the 66 books of the Bible you start off the bag with the biggest saltiest chips. So much to choose from so much to get to so many ways to indulge yourself – at times you can feel overwhelmed. In fact, just like sharing a bag of chips with a friend or family member we often study the Bible with others. We seek their opinions, their thoughts. What do they know what we don’t. What flavors do they like? Are they a flat chip fan, kettle cooked– did I mention how good those are – or do they prefer sour cream and onion?
Once you’ve been in the Bible or the bag for a while, you start to get to the smaller chips or individual books of the Bible. You start to savor each word. You pay closer attention to the meaning, the amount left in the bag; occasionally shaking the bag hoping to find the last BIG chip, instead grabbing the medium sized and enjoying the flavor that much more.
Sometimes we find that the plain chips simply are not enough so we break out some dips, salsa or cheese, a dictionary or concordance to help us understand words or ideas we’re not completely familiar with.
We do all of this in the name of getting to know the Creator of the universe better. To better grasp what our Lord, our maker, our father wants from and for us.
Mick Holt 