Ricky was on vacation and a new waiter came to the table with some menus. As he handed one to Stan, Stan said, “Thanks, but I don’t need a menu, I know what I want.”
I said the same thing and the waiter took our orders. Both Stan and I ordered the blueberry pancakes. “Can’t go wrong with those,” I mentioned to Stan as the waiter left to tell Cook what we wanted.
“That’s so true,” Stan replied, “Not only with breakfast, but with the whole menu of life.”
“Menu of life?” I said. “What’s that?”
“Choices,” Stan replied. “Each day I am faced with an uncountable number of choices. Some will take me closer to God and some will take me further away from what He has for me. It’s up to me to choose from the right menu.”
“The right menu? Is there more than one?”
“Definitely,” Stan said. “There’s God’s menu, and there’s the menu of the world, the flesh, and the devil, along with the side menu of self.”
Continuing, he added, “It’s important to know which is which and to know God’s menu well enough to choose what He has for me. It seems to me, that the apostle Peter in John’s gospel was talking to Jesus about this.”
“Ordering off a menu?” I asked.
“Kind of,” Stan replied. “At one point in Jesus’ ministry, some of the disciples decided to quit walking with Jesus because they couldn’t accept some of the things He had said to them, and, in essence, Jesus asked the twelve apostles if they were going to order off a different menu.”
“What did they say?” I asked.
“It only records what Peter said, and he had the right response,” Stan replied.
“How did Peter respond?”
“Perfectly,” Stan said. “Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life’.”
“To whom shall we go?” I repeated. “What a great question that was the answer!”
“Exactly,” Stan replied. “And I think that’s the question that applies to me when I’m deciding which menu to select from for every part of my life.”
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Bible verses to consider:
As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him any more. Jesus said therefore to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. And we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” John 6:66-69.
And just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” Mark 1:23-24.
. . . choose for yourselves today whom you will serve . . . . Joshua 24:15.
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for all that you have for me: life eternally with you when it’s time, along with the eternal life of growing ever closer to you before then. I confess that too often I select from a “menu” that is different from the one you have for me to select from. I do that because I want to do what I want to do apart from you. Please forgive that foolish approach to being yours in an ever-deepening personal relationship. And please help me in following every step of your lead in choosing only what you have for me, not what is available for me from the menu of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Thank you I can and do bring these prayers before you in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Think on this: Have you selected God’s provision of life eternally with Him when your time here is completed? If no, why? What’s standing in the way of accepting His free and gracious provision? If you do have the assurance of salvation and redemption, how are you doing with selecting from God’s menu for your life here? If you sense changes may be needed in which menus you are looking at and selecting from, how are those changes going to happen? Is that what you want? Why or why not?
Waiting for the Train 