Sharing Meals

God can accomplish a lot of good in the lives of his people when they take their meals together. Think of how often throughout the Bible a feast, a banquet, a breakfast, lunch or dinner serves as the setting for some profound lesson, as an opportunity to give thanks, as a celebration of an important work of God, or simply as the setting for his people to deepen and strengthen their camaraderie as a spiritual family.

From the festivals of Israel to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, common meals persistently reappear in the pages of Scripture as God’s means of doing something important and advantageous for his children. Sharing meals was not only a routine part of the church’s formal gatherings in the first-century, but it was also their practice to informally eat together in each other’s homes with glad and generous hearts (Ac.2:46). Often the encouragement, comfort, joy, thanksgiving and mutual support we need as Christians in the twenty-first century is deficient because we neglect this simple yet effective means of connecting and relating.

So before you plan your menu for the week, or decide what errands you’ll run on your lunch breaks, make a couple of calls or send a couple of emails to see if you can’t take a few of those meals with some fellow disciples of Christ. It may just be the context God uses to do something good and important in your life.