A Year of Prayer: Season One Weekday DevotionalsSample

Isn’t it funny how being extra hungry or thirsty will drive you to places you wouldn’t usually consider? Have you ever been so desperate for a drink that you’ve drunk straight from a hose? For some of us, it’s one of our freest childhood memories. Perhaps as you’ve got older, deep thirst has been daring to drink from someone else’s drink bottle - but probably not even then!

Perhaps you’ve had to make do with leftover food from a toddler’s plate after a long day wrangling children, secretly snuck to get takeaways in the middle of the night after a long day at work, or just because you don’t want to cook! Is there anything more delicious than bottom-of-the-bag French fries?

On the other hand, when we’re not desperate and expect ‘good service’ because we’re paying and ready, lipstick on a glass, caked-in stains, or cold-in-the-middle food on a plate isn’t as cute. Suddenly, the idea of drinking this or eating that isn’t endearing, a cheat day, or refreshing. We want justice for our hard-earned dollars, or maybe we’re too afraid to get it, so we just quietly have our meal ruined. Expectations and preparations crash into disappointing reality.

Jesus came to a world hungry and thirsty for him. The woman at the well in John 4 found endless water, and the disciples, in him, found endless bread.

Isaiah 55:2 says, ‘Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.’

But when Jesus came to the Jewish people, the ones he had been set apart to save, he found expectations and preparations crashed into disappointing reality. As Jesus sat down with the religious leaders of the day, they repeatedly tried to trick, trap, and confuse him to control him.

‘You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside, they are full of greed and self-indulgence.’ The tableware was sparkling, but the fare was lacking. Jesus needed those who followed him to realise it wasn’t the vessels that served the food that were to be praised, but what was contained within them was the true prize.

How quickly do we forget this and return to judging people based on what we can perceive of them? Whether they seem rich, beautiful, confident, or a character, what makes a person appear faithful and blessed? We must turn again to Christ, who says, ‘First, clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean.’

Prayer: God, sometimes it’s easier for me to judge myself by my tics and faults rather than by your infilling. Help me to seek your spiritual guidance first and wait for your radical transformation of love to fulfil all your promises over me.

Action: Pray and discern. Dirty plates make our food dirty. What areas of your heart keep making you react in anger? Is it a person, a place, or a situation?