From Pastor Bill

If you gave Mom a chance to choose, most of the time she would prefer for the family to eat at a nice cafeteria instead of at home.  That alternative eliminates working over a hot stove and having to clean up the dishes afterwards.  Ask the kids and they, too, will usually choose a nice cafeteria.  But what about eating out for 20 nights in a row?  I believe you would find most families, including the Moms, desiring a good, home-cooked meal before too long. 

Now let’s make a transition spiritually.  Some view the local church as a cafeteria rather than a home-style kitchen table.  The church, however, was never intended to be a place where one could pick and choose what he or she likes, and ignore what he or she doesn’t like; nor was it intended to be a place where one could get a fast meal in a hurry and run off without taking time to digest the food. 

Rather, the church is to be like a kitchen table where the whole family sits down regularly and where every family member is accountable.  Those within the fellowship who don’t care for lima beans are encouraged by others: “just three more spoonfuls!”  This is the way the family grows together, is nourished, and is then able to pass on such disciplines to the next generation.

So please quit choosing only what tastes good!  Let’s all submit ourselves to our Heavenly Father who has adopted us into His Family and has now placed us in “foster homes”—His local churches—to be nurtured by the Lord around the kitchen table.

Devotedly your pastor,

Bill Blanchard