Spiritual Meat and Potatoes

I'm a meat and potatoes kind of guy - I love a good steak, a big burger, some BBQ ribs, or something hot off the grill. I'm the same way spiritually - I love the meat of God's Word. At one point in my life, I used to settle for spiritual Happy Meals - they were fun, entertaining, and they even filled me up for a little while. I liked those because I didn't know what else was out there. Then, I tasted a filet mignon and I was hooked. I couldn't go back.

Paul, writing to the Corinthian church, said "I fed you with ​milk and not with solid food; ​for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;" (1 Corinthians 3:2). The milk was a great place to start, but eventually you have to move on to the solid food. Unfortunately, I'd say most Christians spend most of their lives surviving on short little sermonettes. I've heard it well said that "Sermonettes make Christianettes," and I would agree. The less you take in, the less you'll grow - it's logical. So, what do your spiritual meals look like?

Tonight after service, a guy gave me a huge compliment. It was said kind of in passing and probably didn't seem like too big of a deal to him, but it was huge for me. He said, "Kevin, I like your style. There's no fluff. It's just straight from the Bible. It's deep." That's it! Finally someone got it! I needed to hear that so bad! I've faced my fair share of doubt and discouragement since I've been here - all on the heels of criticism. I'm not a milk man, I'm a steak man - I try to serve up good, hearty portions of God's Word, but obviously, not everyone is into that. One guy told me that I should fashion my sermons more like a TV show - 22 minutes is a good length. My thought is that just because the bar is already embarrassingly low, should I lower my standards to match in order to get more people to come or should I endeavor to raise the bar of Biblical literacy by going deeper and hitting it harder? I prefer the latter.

I'm not at all saying that I'm the best at what I do. I sure have a blast doing it thought. I feel like I'm the waiter delivering the filet that the Master Chef (God) has spent thousand of years preparing thorugh the lives of faithful men and women. I'm just stoked to get the chance to bring it to people and see the joy on their faces when they're spiritually nourished. Any compliments that are given are obviously referred back to the Master Chef, who did the prep.

I hope you're not settling for sitcom sermons or milky, watered down messages. Go for the solid food - the deep truths of God's Word. That's where the true nourishment comes from.