I love blue claw crabs. I grew up eating them at my grandpa’s house. Every summer, he would take us out on his pontoon boat to fish in the Delaware Bay, and then on the way in from fishing, we would snatch up the crab traps and have fresh crabs for dinner along with the fish we caught that day (usually flounder).
The irony of this is that I’m allergic to shellfish. I’m not hyper-allergic to shellfish, but when I eat them my glands swell up, and I break out in a rash (especially on my lips, yikes). I eat crabs anyway because it’s worth it.
Isn’t life like that? Doesn’t it feel like there’s always a fly in the ointment or a string attached to every good thing? Keep that in mind for a moment.
This time of year, people around the world celebrate mardi gras. “Mardi gras” is French for “Fat Tuesday.” It’s called Fat Tuesday because it is the last day before the season of Lent begins, which is a season of fasting. This particular Tuesday before Lent (Ash Wednesday) is “fat” because it’s the last day to indulge in whatever foods (or other activities), before a seven-week fast and other forms of self-discipline.
People fast during the season of Lent because self-depravation helps the believer to identify with Jesus’s suffering as he headed voluntarily to the cross to die for the world. It’s a solemn season, but this solemnness is carried out with great anticipation of the resurrection of Jesus.
So, when we take the indulgence of Fat Tuesday together with Lent, there should be a balance of deprivation and satisfaction.
Do you know what I find so fascinating about all of this? That we’re never fully satisfied. Have you ever heard the phrase, “people do what they want but hate what they do,” meaning that when we indulge in the flesh, there is a sense of guilt or “heartburn” that comes along with it? Once again, we’re back to the fly in the ointment. There always seems to be a kickback.
The good Christians out there are thinking, “But there is complete satisfaction in Jesus! He is the bread of life!” This is true in an eternal sense, but in this in-between period of waiting for the culmination of the Kingdom of God and Christ’s return, I’m afraid that’s just not true, and I’m thankful for this.
I’m thankful for this because satisfaction and complacency always go together. I want to be hungry for more Jesus, more prayer, more Bible study, more worship, more Christian fellowship. I want to always have that itch for more, and I think that’s a good thing.
We see this principle in the story of God giving the people of Israel in the desert manna. He gave them just enough for each day. They couldn’t “indulge” in manna. They could only have enough to meet their needs today so that the next day they would depend on Him again.
Ultimately, I think this teaches us that it’s not the gifts of God that satisfy, but the ongoing presence of God alone. God wants to renew his presence with us each day. The more we get of him, the more we want of him so that we’re never fully satisfied.