If you have, you already know where I’m going with this. If not, you gotta go.
 |
| threelayercake (CC) |
If you can brave the herd of people meandering the oversized aisles buying their oversized goods, it’s worth the trip.
At strategic locations throughout the store, employees set up kiosks offering scrumptious morsels to cart pushers and their kids. Some bites are savory. Some are sweet. But they always leave you wanting more. And guess what? Just behind the kiosk is giant box of the stuff you just sampled begging you to put it in your cart.
What Blackberries Can Teach You about God
But was does this have to do with God and His goodness?
There are two passages of scripture that I’d like to tie together if you’ll allow me to do so. Stick with me for a minute and you’ll see where I’m going with this.
The first is a Psalm. King David wrote in Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the LORD is good.”
I’ve always found this verse interesting. Taste what exactly? Grapes? Figs? Cake?
One summer my Granny drove my brother and sister and I down the road to her friend's house. This friend had a blackberry patch, and she invited us to pick and keep as much of the fruit as we wanted. So we brought buckets, applied sunscreen, and walked the rows of blackberry bushes fighting the mantises and flies for the good fruit.
I was probably eight at the time so for every one or two blackberries that made it into my bucket, another one made it down my gullet. I have never since had blackberries so sweet, so mouth-watering as those I had that day.
We got home late in the afternoon, exhausted from the Missouri sun. I sat down at Granny’s dining table while she mixed ingredients for blackberry cobbler. And when she pulled it out of the oven for dessert that evening, cut a slice, and topped it with a mound of vanilla ice cream, part of me left my body and went to heaven.
In that moment, I could taste that God was good.
How to Convince the Skeptic That God Exists
But amazing blackberries aren’t enough evidence for God’s goodness, are they?
Certainly not for the unbeliever. So how can you convince him that God exists and that He is good?
The gut reaction is to argue him to belief. I’ll prove to him through logic that God is real. But even though I believe God is the logical choice, 99% of skeptics will not be convinced by argumentation.
You can tell me that charred meat is a proven carcinogen all day. Show me studies. Cite statistics. But at the end of the day, I’m still going to visit Oklahoma Joe’s for some burnt ends any time I’m in Kansas City. (It’s that good.)
So this leads me to the second passage. You’re quite familiar with it, I’m sure:
You are the salt of the earth. . . You are the light of the world. . . let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven (Matt. 5:13a, 14a, 16).
Jesus had a good grasp of the scriptures. He quoted the Psalms often. So I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest that he had Psalm 34:8 in the back of his mind when he said that we are salt and light. Read the Psalm again:
Taste and see that the LORD is good. Psalm 34:8a
What do you do with salt but taste it? And without light is it possible to see anything?
In order to prove to the world that God is good, we must give unbelievers free samples of God. We must make God, like those blackberries, so irresistible that they can’t but confess that God is real. That God is good.
As Christians, we believe that God dwells within us via the Holy Spirit. Therefore, what we say, what we do, yes even our thoughts must reflect on the Amazingness of God.
So let the world come. Let them come, taste our salt, see our light. Let them sample God and believe that He is good.
And there's no better way to do just that than to discover and fulfill your calling.
But before you embark on that journey, there are some dangerous pitfalls you should know about. I put together a guide called Four Things World Changers Wish You Knew About Your Calling.
The best part? It's totally free. Just tell me where to send it:
No comments:
Post a Comment