Jesus is not soda

One thing I like about the Spirit Led lessons by Ps Stuart Gramenz is that it provides words for important ideas that I cannot verbalize. And that eventually, because of its provision, I find my fingers hitting the keys of my laptop as if racing against the expiry date of the ideas.

For example, for the past few days, I have been thinking of how pathetic it is for young people who come to me and apologize for not attending the small group, cell group or others have called it meeting.

Call me word sensitive. Yes I am. If you are a teacher and a “journalist,” misnomer is a crime, I believe. I do not like people calling a supposedly time with the Lord and a time for encouraging one another a meeting. Over the years, for me, inside our church, there are people who have equated the word meeting with business meeting and church planning.

It is not a meeting, first and foremost. The Sunday afternoon gathering of some select young people at my crib is a not a meeting but a time for leadership class where, for most of the time, we talk about John Maxwell’s great leadership principles. And then we talk about future activities and then we wrap it up with prayers.

Sunday afternoon at our house has been inspiring for me: first, because of the unswerving attendance, except at times when some had a “reasonable” reason; second, because it equips all of us who are there, including me. It is a great time to learn the principles and to be challenged to put these principles into action in the real realm. Although the meeting equips all of us budding church youth leaders, another thing that I am sensitive to, as verbalized by Ps Gramenz’s lesson on being spirit led, is that of people thinking of meeting as the source of refreshment.

The meeting is not Jesus. The meeting provides a venue for us to be equipped and to be connected to Jesus. We should not be turning up and showing up to the meeting. Instead, we should be connecting to Jesus, the only real thirst quencher.

We should not go to the meeting for the meeting itself. The reason of showing up should not be because of someone or of the lights and music or of the program. But most of the time, this is the case for some of us. Sad. Or should I call it unfortunate? Or how about pointless?

We should be excited to go the meeting because of Jesus, the thirst quencher. I have first heard of the term Tent of Meeting through Hillsong United’s More Than Life album documentary video ages ago. The Tent of Meeting in the Old Testament was God’s means of drawing undeserving people to His presence; so that He could be in their midst-in a way worthy of His holiness and glory. God planned to teach future generations many important lessons about Himself and about the Savior He planned to send into the world through the Tent of Meeting.

If you are a Christian, the Tent of Meeting is the place to be. For the reason that the Tent of Meeting is where we can meet up with the real thirst quencher. And it is always better to be spending even for just a day in God’s house than a thousand elsewhere, the psalmist David said. There is so much to be excited about meeting Him because he is not our ordinary thirst quencher.

As I googled the TV ad-sounding adage “quench your thirst,” I stumbled upon a truth. A soda is not a better thirst quencher than water. Apparently, it is because soda is loaded with sugar, either refined or unrefined that it quenches our thirst for a while but then after, we are thirsty again.

What is in a soda? It has nothing but empty calories and ulcer-causing acids. It is really not good for the health. It has no nutritional value. The ingredients in it eat away the inner lining of our stomach, which will eventually cause severe digestive problems. In sum, it contributes to major health problems like obesity, osteoporosis, coronary disease, strokes, cancer, among others.

Jesus is none of these things that soda is. He is not a one-shot thirst quencher. His thirst-quenching action lasts forever. He does not cause us disease. But He was the one who died on the cross to heal our disease.

Jesus is water. He provides water. To drink water is healthy. Water has no calories. Health experts suggest that we should drink a minimum of six eight-ounce glasses of water per day.

It can take the edge off your hunger and help us fill up. Water will slow us down if we drink it before a big, calorie laden meal.

Experts suggest for us to always carry a bottle of fresh, clean water and to take sips from it frequently. This will prevent daily dehydration, which can be aggravated when we overconsume alcohol, soda pop and coffee or tea, which all produce excess thirst.

But the sad fact is that people, young people, especially, do not bring the Water or take the Water that much or that frequent nowadays. It is like we have put Jesus in one corner or that we have put him inside a box that we only take out when we are in dire need of something or when we are in a problematic situation.

The truth is, in America, and is also the case in most part of the globe I believe, teenagers, in particular, drink twice or even thrice as much soda as they were drinking milk in 1977-78. This is just to point out that what is healthy (milk is an option for quenching thirst but water is still much better) is not being taken. The answer to the query I have in mind about “why do Christians these days don’t grow spiritually as fast as is the case in the early church?” comes easy.

In this contemporary world, people have always preferred the sweet taste, and what is fun, I would like to add, because these things are always attractive. But what is attractive is not necessarily good for the health. The sweet can only quench thirst for a while and worst, can cause decay.