Pizza And Jesus

Every week, I go through a mental battle between pizza and meal prep.

I spend each Tuesday and Wednesday night at the church with our middle schoolers and high schoolers. If you know anything about youth ministry, you know pizza is one of our greatest evangelism tools. Come for Costco cheese pizza, leave knowing Christ – at least that’s the goal!

But five years into the job, the endless access to pizza has become more of a challenge. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE pizza, and I’m no strict health nut. I love enjoying a decadent meal here and there. But as my early 20s turn into my late 20s, I’ve realized that to feel good and energized, pizza two nights out of the week, especially while trying to match the energy of 7th graders, isn’t going to work. So each week, I bring tupperware with a healthy balanced meal prep. I walk in to youth group fully intending to eat my meal prep because I know it’ll help me perform better in my role for the students. And an embarrassing amount of the time, the tupperware sits in the fridge while I’m two slices into a fresh Costco ‘za. In this mental battle, pizza tends to be the winner.

Why all this pizza talk you might ask? I promise it connects to Jesus.

Christ’s 4th beatitude in his Sermon on the Mount is found in Matthew 5:6,

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

- Matthew 5:6

Jesus tells us that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness – a right relationship with him – are blessed because they actually will be filled.

Jesus points out that when we hunger for the right things, when we crave a holier, more God-honoring life, we will receive real fulfillment for that hunger.

Often we can think the blessed life is when we no longer hunger and thirst. When we have everything we need. But Christ normalizes longing, reminding us that we ARE going to hunger and thirst as a result of our fallen world. We all have longing, we all sometimes lay in bed at night wondering, “Isn’t there more?”

Our world will push us to hunger for success or relationships or popularity or good health. All things that can will fail us at some point. But Jesus goes against cultural norms and says… “If you hunger and thirst for me and my Word, you will receive real fulfillment.” Because not only will God really answer us and sanctify us, but we’ll also be giving our souls the one thing that will truly sustain us.

Remember that pizza story? Here’s where it comes full circle. I could eat the pizza, just like you could choose the donuts for every meal of the day. But we both know, as fun as it is to enjoy more indulgent foods, it wouldn’t give your body the balanced diet it needs.

Every Tuesday and Wednesday night I know that my meal prep is going to provide me with real fulfillment that will last more than the hour of energy pizza might offer before I crash. Temptation pushes me to choose the quick fix, the biggest rush of flavor, and dopamine.

But discipline and long term thinking says: Choose the thing that will make you feel better three hours from now.

Friend, we live in a “fast food” type of world. We’re constantly looking for quick fixes to feel better, avoid pain, and find fulfillment. Jesus tells us the better way, that takes a little longer, and looks a lot less glamorous, is hungering and thirsting for him. Are you ready to give up the junk that is only pushing you farther into an empty life? It will never truly fulfill you. There will always be something newer and better to chase.

Instead, seek righteousness. Seek the one who lived the righteous life for you, and find real blessing.

Cristina  Schmitter