Showing Up Like a Turkey

Steve Boots
8 minutes ago
3 min read

Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Job 23:12

The closest house on the other side of the road from our house is about a quarter of a mile up the road. They have about twenty chickens and one turkey. Ironically, they spend more of their time during the day pecking and scratching the ground at our house than they do at their own. I don’t mind having them around, so I decided to buy a bag of feed and spread some out for them every time I see them in our yard. That quickly turned into something much bigger than I thought it would be. Every time we pull into our driveway or walk out of our house, the chickens and the turkey make a dead sprint for us, cackling and clucking loudly. They follow right behind me to the feed bin and then back to the part of the yard where I spread the feed. There are times,however, when I’m in a hurry coming out of the house, and I can’t feed them.

That was the case on a Sunday morning a few weeks ago. We were headed to church and were right on time. As I got in the car, the turkey walked over to my driver’s side door and began looking at me expectedly. But he wasn’t just looking in the direction of the car or the window. He had his neck craned to its full height, and he was looking directly at me. If I could have read his mind, I’m sure he was thinking, “You can’t just leave without feeding me. Are you seeing me here? Do you realize that you forgot us? Certainly you are not going to just leave without spreading out some of that feed for me and my poor chicken friends.” I had to poke my head out the window and tell him I would be back and would feed them in the afternoon.

Wouldn’t it be great if we all showed up to God’s house wanting to be fed in the same way? I shouldn’t just be going to church to fulfill an obligation or to keep people from questioning me about where I was. I should show up to church anticipating a spiritual meal from God’s Word, and looking forward to it. I should be showing up to my time of daily devotions the same way. We should all approach our Bible reading, not with the mindset that I just need to get it done so I can move on with my day, but with an attitude of expectancy. The complaint from many Christians about their church is that they are not being fed. If that is a genuine concern, then you must find a church where you will be fed. But the reason most Christians are not being fed is because they are not hungry for the Word of God, and they are not showing up ready to eat. Show up to church like that turkey at my house, and I can assure you that you will be fed.