Don't Eat the Cat Food!
Why Christians Should Change Our Thinking about God So We Can Live Full and Abundant Lives
by
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Imagine for a moment you are a zookeeper, with a hungry 9-foot Bengal Tiger in your care. It’s time for his feeding. Powerful and intimidating, the cat paces back and forth in his cage as he eyes you warily. You can imagine he’s assessing how good of a meal you might be. Quickly, you open the cage door and slide in a large bowl of nutritionally-complete cat food. But as the tiger sniffs the air, his pupils dilate, his ears perk up, and he begins to salivate. He knows you’ve brought something else. On your cart, there is a huge, fresh rack of ribs. Carefully, you slide the meat into the cage and shut the door.
You know what happens next: pouncing on the ribs with reckless abandon (and ignoring the waiting bowl of cat food), the big cat eats until he can eat no more. Then he looks around drowsily, and finding a corner, he lies down. Happily licking his chops and falling asleep, he dreams a happy-tiger dream. Life is good.
But let me pose a question: what if you did exactly as you did before, but instead of gorging himself on the meat, this time the tiger sniffed it, but then went back to nibble at the bowl of cat food? Of course, that would be ridiculous, right? You would probably have him examined by the veterinarian to check if he had a sore tooth, or indigestion. A hungry tiger – made by his Creator to be a first-class predator – knows what meets his needs. And it’s not cat food.
So, what can we learn from feline food preferences? A lot. As ridiculous as it may seem, we humans have gotten really good at taking the cat food. Although the real treasure is within easy reach, we make the insane choice of dooming our lives to mediocrity, when we could be living a life on the edge, chasing what really matters: the treasure that waits beyond the boundaries of our vision.
I’m talking, of course, about the abundant life. We are promised it, but most of us never really get it. We can innately sense something is missing in our lives, a disquiet, a nagging sense that there’s something bigger. Meanwhile, we chase after things we think will make us happy, but they never do. As Christians, yours and my mission goes beyond – way beyond -- just trying to do the right thing, and live noble lives until we die and cash in our ticket at the Pearly Gates. We are supposed to be the salt and light in a tasteless world, the Louisiana hot sauce which spices up the of lives of people around us, the million-candlepower spotlight pointing to the one who saved us, and we’re the ones who – because we call ourselves by His name – have the responsibility to be about the work he called us to in Matthew 28:16-20.
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About the Book
This book is about expanding our horizons and tuning our spiritual antennae to the frequency of the Creator, who is urgently trying to get our attention. God speaks through nature, through events, through our fellow human beings, and most potently through his timeless Word. But in the frantic pace of our daily lives, we can miss out on the joy we're supposed to have, and instead live lives of unfulfilled potential. But that's not what God wants from us! Remember how he called the disciples? He calls you and me too! We could be living full, exciting lives on the edge, chasing after the only treasure worth pursuing: a fuller, deeper relationship with our Creator, characterized by obedience to—and dependence upon—Jesus Christ.
About the Author
Bill Moak has deep roots in Lincoln County, Mississippi, and was reared in a Christian home by Tom, a minister of music, and Willa, a schoolteacher. At the age of eight, his parents showed him the way to the cross, and he made the most important decision of his life—to accept Jesus Christ's free gift of grace and strive to honor Christ and to seek him first. Bill is a lifelong writer and is passionate about the art and craft of writing. He frequently writes as a consumer columnist for the Clarion-Ledger newspaper in Jackson, Mississippi, and collects his personal and professional writings on a blog called Writings, Ramblings, and Rubble (billmoak.wordpress.com). Bill teaches business courses at Tulane University and is actively involved in scouting. He is accredited (APR) by the Public Relations Society of America and is a Paul Harris Fellow and past president of the Madison-Ridgeland Rotary Club. Bill and his wife, Lori, serve at Broadmoor Baptist Church in Madison, Mississippi, where he serves as a deacon and in the media ministry. Bill and Lori have two sons, Daniel and Caleb.