Tiny Devotional for RED Friday, 10/23/2020

 A great Good RED Friday Morning to all my friends and neighbors out there in Internet Land! And to any family members who dropped by, please don't abandon lard for use in cooking, unless you just love the flavor of olive oil.

When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
Consider carefully what is before you,
And put a knife to your throat
If you are a man of great appetite.
Do not desire his delicacies,
For it is deceptive food.
Proverbs 23:1-3, NASB


Dining with rulers. It’s quite stimulating!

So is dropping your iPhone into a pot of grits. 

Instead of grits, I’m going to offer the magnificent cheeseburger in speaking of dining with a ruler; and THAT is a metaphor for a too-close affiliation with a leader, which I’ve seen approach idolatry. 

Dining with rulers isn’t NECESSARILY a destructive thing; a very strong person, with profound convictions, can share a cheeseburger, and come away with no harm (but Billy Graham couldn’t, so watch yourself).

When you dine with a ruler, the real meal YOU eat isn’t a cheeseburger; the meal you eat is the influence of the ruler. It’s not possible to associate with someone who has great authority and not be changed by that. Whether you absorb it or reject it, it changes you.

And the meal the RULER eats isn’t a cheeseburger, either. The ruler is eating YOU, and your influence. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as long as it’s used to accomplish YOUR goals; but be cautious! The ruler has eaten a lot of different cheeseburgers, with a lot of different people, and rulers are experts at digesting what they want, and disposing of the rest.

Remember this: it is deceptive food!

Peace be on your household.


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