If Jesus Came By For Supper

If Jesus came by for supper I would make sure the house was spotless and clean, light some bee’s wax candles, load up my diffuser with my favorite essential oil mixture of orange, lemon, Virginia cedar wood, cinnamon, lavender, and peppermint, play my favorite mellow Pandora station that I’ve been curating for a decade on my Sonos, have a big plate of appetizers ready… Probably olives, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, home made chicken liver pate on home made baguettes, with sparkling water and Dry Farm red wine.

In the oven would be a grass fed and finished beef roast in home made beef broth, some red wine, and Italian seasoning, with carrots and potatoes. Sitting on the counter cooling would be delicious dessert made with whatever fruit was in season, probably an apple or peach cobbler, and in the freezer would be some raw cow’s milk vanilla ice cream. 

My mouth is watering thinking about this food and there is a big smile on my face imagining this evening so far. 

What would we talk about? 

How long would dinner take? 

Would it be like a normal night where we take 45 minutes to cook dinner and eat it in five? When we realize right when we are about to finish the meal that we should slow down and enjoy the flavors and chew more. I bet I’d be so enamored with the whole evening I’d even forget to eat! I would be the last to finish my meal, which if you know anything about me, that is not what usually happens. 

I imagine that we’d take an after dinner stroll through the neighborhood and then sit on the front porch in the rocking chairs to drink some tea. Netflix, my work, and the news would be the furthest away in my mind. 

I would fall asleep peacefully with a smile on my face and sleep soundly through the whole night waking with the covers in the same place I left them. I would feel refreshed, strong, reinvigorated, and ready to tackle the new day and feel that there was nothing that could stand in my way. I did just spend the prior evening entertaining Jesus after all!

But wait… 

Jesus is always with us for dinner, isn’t he? He is actually with us every moment of every day. The Bible says that we are given the gift of God’s Holy Spirit.

“Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 2:38

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

John 16:13-15

At all times in the day we can lean on the Spirit within us. Father Richards writes in his book, Be a Man!

“The gift of piety or reverence means that we come before God with humility. God gives us the gift of piety so we can approach God more purely. What does it mean to live a life of piety? It means that I live a life where God’s Spirit lives inside of me and people can see that. I am living God’s will in my daily life. You need to ask, “What do You want me to do today, Jesus?” Then you need to say, “I will do it. Give me Your command. Make me obey You.” When you can do that, you are no longer living by your power, but by the power of God. That is piety.”

Amazing! Our body is a temple for God’s Holy Spirit. “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” 1 Corinthians 6:19 & 20 

I sure don’t always treat my body with this in mind. Staying up late watching Netflix, sleeping in, skipping my workout for the day, getting frustrated at what our politicians are doing, being impatient with my wife, expecting more of others than I expect of myself, and the list goes on and on.

If I treated my body like a temple I would sure treat it a lot differently. There would be a lot more evenings similar to the one I enjoyed with Jesus. I’d actually live a lot more like the folks in the Blue Zones. The communities in the world that have an above average percentage of centenarians (people that are over 100-years old). And these folks aren’t living in an assisted living community. They are still gardening, taking long walks to get water through steep terrain, laughing, dancing, singing, learning, trying things for the first time, having sex, and playing games with their great-great-grandkids, yes I said great-great-grandkids.

Ben Greenfield writes in his book Boundless,

“Buettner discovered several characteristics that the people in these zones shared, such as these: 

A lack of smoking 

A high intake of wild plants
A regular intake of legumes, usually prepared using ancestral methods such as soaking, sprouting, or fermentation
Constant moderate physical activity, not as isolated exercise sessions or gym workouts but as a natural part of life (e.g., gardening, yard work, walking, and bicycling)
Healthy family relationships and social engagement (despite less use of social media, people are extremely socially active and integrated into their communities) 

Other key characteristics Buettner identified were low-to-moderate alcohol intake (especially wine and other fermented beverages), caloric moderation and fasting, a strong life purpose, low amounts of stress, and engagement in a spiritual discipline, religion, or belief in a higher power.” (Italics mine)

Yes… That is how I want to be living each day. I want to be the best host to Jesus and His Spirit. It is such a gift that He wants to be part of my life. That He wants to go through the mundane with me when He could be anywhere, doing anything. I want to roll out the red carpet each day and love on God’s Spirit each and every second. I want to treat this opportunity as the gift that it truly is.

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