A Sack of Sweet Feed

The cows in the pasture have a way of teaching without speaking.  In the fourteen years of sharing the farm with them, I have learned more than just a few things.  One of those learned things is that it is always good to have sweet feed around.  Sweet feed is sack feed with an extra dose of molasses.  When they taste it, they will go almost anywhere you carry the sack.  If they get out of the pasture, show them some sweet feed and they will walk back in the gate with you in a heartbeat.  While the sweet feed is not a steady diet for my grass fed beef, when they get some, they are prone to quit grazing so they can stand at the gate and wait for me to bring them another sack.  Instead of grazing, they want another hand out.   

Jesus ran into some folks like my cows on the day after He fed the five thousand with the boy's fish and bread.  The next day as the crowd gathered, they noticed that neither Jesus nor His disciples were around.  So, they went looking for Jesus.  (John 6:24)   Jesus knew immediately why they were looking for Him.  "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves."  (John 6:26)  Like the cows in my pasture, those folks were looking for another free meal.  They were not as interested in Jesus as they were in what He could give to them.    

More times than most of us want to admit, we have clamored for what Jesus could give to us instead of simply seeking to be in His presence.  If it is not a free meal, we want something from Him.  We want some blessing.  We want some favor.  We want something we think He owes us, or something we deserve because we have been faithful. We often find ourselves at the gate waiting on some sack of sweet feed instead of going out into the places where self sacrifice is required to to do the work He is calling us to do.  It is good to feast with thanksgiving on the blessings that Christ gives, but not to the point that we neglect the heart that gives them.