Chocolate

            Chocolate. Just the word chocolate evokes certain emotions in people. The majority of people I know usually respond with a hearty yes or mmmmm and a smile. I do know a few people who do not like it, it’s alright though, we can still be friends. As I considered my response to a bit of chocolate yesterday it occurred to me that it isn’t just the taste; eating chocolate is an experience in taste, texture, aroma and pleasure. Personally, my preference is plain milk chocolate. I prefer to bite through it without interruption and allow it to melt on my tongue.
            Then I made the comparison of chocolate to my faith walk; is that an experience too? What type of experience is it? Does my faith cause other to smile and crave a knowledge of what I have in my walk with Christ? Is my faith experience as rich as or better than a chocolate experience? Actually, I would say yes but I don’t know if it is as apparent to others as it is to me. How about you?
            The faith walk isn’t about having all the answers; it is far deeper than that. Our faith walk is our testimony and our testimony is about our experiences in life and how we include God in all our experiences. Faith is what moves us forward in confidence knowing that God is in control. We may not know what the earthly outcome may be but we know the eternal outcome and that what we have here is temporary. We may struggle and question yet ultimately we have the blessed assurance that good will come from our circumstances. The good may not be to us rather to the by-stander observing us. God gives us the opportunities to plant the seeds of faith in others and the Holy Spirit will cultivate those seeds.
            Consider the words and actions you choose to employ in any given situation carefully. You and I are working in the mission field of the world 24/7. Never doubt that someone is watching you; it may be your child, your friend, your enemy, a stranger or God himself. Let the outsider have a taste of the rich experience you know as faith.
Matthew 9:36-38 "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to the disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field."



Posted by

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How are you?

Image
            When I wake, one of the first things I do is say, “Good morning God!” Some days are more enthusiastic than others. When I greet another human being, I usually follow that greeting with, “how are you?” This morning it occurred to me that I don’t ask God how he is. I have been contemplating this idea, how are you God? Obviously, given his attributes of omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience it is easy to follow the train of thought that he has everything in check. Despite that; I think of him in human terms and I can’t help but feel he is; not mad but disappointed (cringe). When he looks at creation, like a parent gazing on the wreckage of a kid’s toy room, wouldn’t there be disappointment?             As I contemplated that, my meandering mind led me to consider guilt. The guilt that leads to the disappointment of others. Every culture I have known lays claim t...
Read more

I Don't Understand

Image
              I was walking with my good friend Patti this morning as we do most Saturdays, and we were discussing dependance on God versus a bank account when from out of my coat pocket my phone speaks and says, “I don’t understand.” In the moment it made us chuckle, but it is so appropriate because the phone (a worldly item) can’t understand that kind of faith. The world doesn’t understand that kind of faith. I have often heard stories of men and women of faith totally dependent on God, prayers being answered in supernatural ways at the very last minute. (Read up on George Mueller who ran an orphanage depending entirely on God). I desire that type of faith because try as I might, at times I still lean on my bank accounts and fear can creep in when my funds are low.             There is no way to completely understand the love of God, His ways are incomprehensible to the...
Read more

Masterpiece

Image
              As a young person, I was fond of painting, not great at it but reasonable. I set it aside when I fell in love and got married. In these days of isolation I needed to find some other ways to occupy myself other than baking and decided to get back to my paint brushes.   To get used to handling the brushes again I got myself a paint by number,             If you have never tried one of these let me give you a little insight. You receive a canvas with an image divided up into numbered areas and little pots of paint with corresponding numbers. Then you begin a sort of scavenger hunt trying to fill in all the spots of a particular number. Sounds simple enough, however some of these areas are so tiny they are easily overlooked. The tiny spots are important though, they give that little flourish that can draw the eye or round out an object.    ...
Read more