Proper Thoughts While Taking Communion

Communion

The Jewish Passover has a direct correlation with Christian Communion. They both happen at the same time of the year because the Last Supper of Jesus was a Jewish Passover. Except, after sacrificing a lamb, Jesus became the sacrificial Lamb of God.

Jesus asks us to continue participating in Communion.

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." (Luke 22:19)

Paul asks us to particpate in Communion with proper meditation.

Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.  (1 Corinthians 11:27-29)

And it's a serious task with real consequences. If we do not eat and drink properly, we bring judgment on ourselves that may result in sickness or death.

That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. (1 Corinthians 11:30-31)

So what thoughts ought we to meditate on during Communion?

Remember How God Saved You

The Jews were saved by amazing demonstrations of God's power. The first nine plagues climaxed in the last plague -- the death of the firstborn. The Egyptians kicked out the Jews so that they had to leave in haste. Remember the amazing demonstrations of God's power in how he saved you that culminated in the death of his firstborn -- Jesus. Remember the crucifixion as if you had been there observing at Golgotha.

You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction -- for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste -- that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 16:3)

Remember What He Saved You From

We often think like the traitor Cypher from the Matrix. We dream and imagine that life before we became Christians was better than life now as a Christian. That is not so. God saved us from the nightmare of sin. We were slaves with a horrible master.

You shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction... (Deuteronomy 16:3)

You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.  (Deuteronomy 16:12)

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)

Remember What He Saved You For

He saved us so that we shout out and declare his excellencies!

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)

And let us shout out with joy! We are not meant to declare his excelllenices out of boredom and religous duty. We ought to do it with greater joy than when we cheer for our favorite sports team.

And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. (Deuteronomy 16:11)