When I was in college, I worked for a man who was on the board of the local Catholic hospital. He hosted a board meeting at his house in the country.

I helped the cook who grilled steaks and made baked beans for the meal. When I wasn’t preparing vegetables for the beans, I watched him arrange cinder blocks on the ground and prepare coals out of hickory logs for the fire. He cooked beautiful steaks to perfection over his makeshift grill.

After everyone was served, the cook brought me two of the best steaks I’ve ever eaten. He included a loaf of homemade bread that the nuns prepared for the meal. That meal took place nearly 60 years ago, but I can still see the fire and food in my mind.

You may be like me and have a few extra pounds to testify to your love of food. As much as we may love a great meal, there remains one that is infinitely better. God invites us to feast on His abundance.

Hear, everyone who thirsts;
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread
and your earnings for that which does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food. (Isaiah 55:1-2)

What do we need to do to attend God’s banquet and experience His abundance? In a parallel message to this invitation, Jesus said:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Once again, we have the invitation to come to the Lord. Most of us like to eat three meals a day. Should we not come to the Lord’s banquet table of abundance at least that many times each day?

One instruction manual on prayer recommended a generous time of prayer in the morning, another shorter time of prayer in the afternoon, and a third experience of the Lord’s presence prior to bed.

As a young and hungry 20-year-old, I ate two steaks and a loaf of homemade bread. We dine at the Lord’s table by listening to His word. In Isaiah, the invitation is to listen to the Lord, and Jesus says that we can learn from Him.

I watched the barbecue cook and tried to imitate his method of cooking steaks and baked beans. I even took a stab at his concrete block style of preparing the coals with a serious failure in that regard.

In comparison, with the offer of abundant life, should we not attempt to listen and learn from the Lord Himself?

What if during the three times of prayer, we read a small section of one of the Gospels to inform our heart and direct our prayers? No doubt, we would come closer to learning from Jesus far more than checking social media on our phones.

The listening message in Isaiah is interesting. In Hebrew, to hear also means to obey.

Suppose I watched the man’s steak preparation and smelled the fresh bread of the nuns, but refused to eat either. That’s crazy! Isn’t it?

God has more for us than a fine steak dinner. As we learn from Jesus, “It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63).

Each time we learn from Jesus, we encounter His Spirit-filled words that are designed to give us life. However, we can’t experience them unless we go from merely hearing to obeying them.

A yoke, even an “easy yoke,” sounds off-putting. Who wants to lose the freedom of choosing their own way? Who wants to surrender the throne of their heart, even if the One who wants to sit on it is our loving Lord?

Dallas Willard has a teaching that I appreciate. He acknowledges that the cost of discipleship is high. But he also points out that the cost of non-discipleship is even higher.

We are invited to a banquet that promises the abundant life. Let’s respond with definite action and experience God’s best for us.

YouTube Discussion

Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.