Eat this. Don’t eat that. Stop telling me what to do. No, you’re not doing it right.

A steady diet of that is enough to make anyone lose his appetite.

As Paul in Romans 14 lays out some hypothetical and not-so-hypothetical examples of judgment, we all know how easy it is to make a royal mess out of secondary topics. Surely there’s a better way.

I know he frames this verse as “The kingdom is NOT…” But I wonder. Is that because these two phrases are diametrically opposed? Or because the kingdom shares something in common with eating and drinking but raises it a realm higher? Raises it from a food fight to a feast.

In my drawing box for this journal entry, I sketched (maybe I should say envisioned, since sketched is a bit beyond me) the lobby of a restaurant. A big sign standing on the floor reads:

         Fresh Daily

         All U Can Eat

         MENU:

             Righteousness

             Peace

             Joy

        The Holy Spirit will seat you.

Being IN the Holy Spirit and receiving righteousness, peace, and joy are as basic, necessary, sustaining, and satisfying as eating and drinking are to the body.

Here are some parallels I see:

1. We can’t live without those three. We’d be incredibly foolish to feed the body but starve the spirit.

2. These are a daily diet, not a one-off salvation download growing stale. “Righteousness, peace, and joy,” calls the Holy Spirit like a dinner bell. “Served fresh daily. All you need.” How hungry are you? Well, have some more.

3. Sharing with others as we partake of these three is the same kind of nourishing, nurturing, community-building opportunity as gathering at the table for a meal. Share peace with each other. Explore righteousness together. Enjoy each other’s joy.

4. These three are filling and satisfying and also provide growth, strength, and energy. We could fill up on other things and “spoil our supper”—take in a bunch of empty calories with little nutritional value. Or we can feast on what is served up in the Holy Spirit—a fresh, daily, wholesome, well-rounded, all-you-can-eat buffet of righteousness, peace, and joy.

Come, eat and be filled!