Bravery Begins at the Dinner Table

I made up this slogan sometime last year to motivate my son to eat the food on his plate (his sisters don’t have this problem). It’s shown a little success (not as much as other methods), but I still think the phrase is fantastic and I repeat it often.

James chapter three talks about the tongue. It’s small, but packs a big punch: “Behold how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!” Maybe the tongue is as important as the Bible says it is!

My slogan isn’t exactly what James says here. James is talking about what comes out of the mouth (words). I’m talking about what goes into the mouth (food). I’m simply suggesting that the tongue is important.

If my son can’t be brave enough to eat his vegetables, how can he expect him to pray for a full hour? Why would we think he would stand up to a bully? If he goes to food for comfort, he’ll rarely go to food for nutritional value. I know; I was him.

I needed to be brave at the dinner table. I needed to eat to live instead of living to eat. If I couldn’t “tame” the tongue in order to eat black beans, why would I expect to go out into the world (that hates the Christian) and stand up against evil?

By God’s grace, I was convicted by His Spirit that I wasn’t being brave at the dinner table. I repented, trusted Christ, then ate whatever my wife gave me to eat. IT WAS LIBERATING! I didn’t have to worry if the waiter got my order wrong.

And that’s how sin works, ladies and gentlemen. We’re conned into thinking that we’re experiencing freedom, when true liberty stands a ways off.

So, I am now brave at the dinner table. My son is learning bravery at the dinner table. Are you being brave at the dinner table?