The Squirrel Feeder

The squirrels at our new home aren’t using the squirrel feeder; unlike the squirrels during our time on the Zuck Homestead these squirrels aren’t the least bit interested in the corn. They actually by-pass the corn on their way up and down the tree that holds the feeder.

The reason is that our home is surrounded by oak and hickory trees and for the past few months there has been a carpet of nuts on the ground, so the squirrels are eating and storing the food that is natural to them – supplemental corn is not only not required, it is not wanted.

This is like Christians and the Gospel, when the Gospel is taught, and I mean the whole Gospel not just initial salvation, the Gospel feeds and satisfies us and meets our every need; we should not be surprised at this for Jesus Christ is the Gospel: He is our wisdom and sanctification and redemption; He is that water and bread that does more that satisfy us – He fills us.

It would be unnatural for the squirrels at our home to suddenly abandon the acorns and hickory nuts for the corn we’ve placed in the feeder; it would be unnatural for them to abandon their natural food for something that does not naturally grow on this land. And yet Christians abandon their natural source of sustenance, Jesus Christ and His Word, for unnatural substitutes – we prefer to frequent feeders than to eat from the Tree of Life.  

I confess that my sensitivity to this has developed over the years; on the one hand I’m dismayed at this sensitivity and on the other hand I’m thankful for it. I’m dismayed because I regret the years that I did not fully appreciate the issue, the years that I had left my first love for texts out of contexts, for the pragmatic, for the expedient, for the therapeutic, for the popular, for the political, for the need-centered rather than the Christ-centered. Of course I’m thankful that a passion for Jesus has been reawakened in me as never before. I find that being in the 4^th Quarter of life makes it easier to cut to the chase and discard the extraneous. It also forces me to not be so nuanced and to get to the point – though I do enjoy nuance.

For the squirrels to prefer the feeder to the abundance surrounding them would be like the Woman at the Well continuing to carry her bucket about seeking water after the Fountain of Life came to live within her. 

Do we hear the voice of the Father, “This is My beloved Son, hear Him”?