“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2)
Nature survives by means of a food chain: the frog eats the fly, the snake eats the frog, the hawk eats the snake, and so on. In each case, the life of the weaker is sacrificed so that the stronger may live. Nature’s food chain is a saga of victim and victor, a sequence of suffering and satisfaction, a cycle of death and life.
Each link of the food chain is marked not only by a loss of life, but also by a loss of efficiency. Ecologists estimate that it takes 762 pounds of forage to produce 59 pounds of moose to produce one pound of wolf.* Survival in the wild is punctuated by pain and loss.
To nourish our souls, God has designed a much better food chain. This food chain is characterized by renewed life and blessing rather than by loss of life and inefficiency. The New Testament gives us a glimpse of this food chain in action. We read that Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice transmitted their unfeigned faith to Timothy. The spiritual well-being of each family member was enhanced not only by receiving, but also by giving.
When Jesus fed the multitude, He broke bread and gave to His disciples, who in turn distributed to the crowd. It is our sacred privilege to share with others what we have received of the Lord. In this way we form the links of a food chain that abounds with blessing and provision.
When nature preys, the victim pays.
The Christian prays to share God’s ways.
* “Ecology,” World Book Encyclopedia, 1994, vol. 6, pp. 53–56.
From Paws on My Porch, by Gary Miller
© 2015 TGS International, PO Box 355, Berlin, Ohio 44610
Used by permission
