You can't just decide to like something. Like, you can't just say, I'm going to like this now and decide to like. You have to actually like it.I told her that people decide to start liking something all the time. If what she said is true, how does that happen? She said:
You can't just decide to start liking something. You have to actually like it. Your taste buds have to change or somethin'.Yes! She was speaking truth deeper than she realized.
The following is a bit from my next book. Titled Gospel Wakefulness, it is coming next year from Crossway.
The kingdom itself is a treasure, often hidden from our spiritual senses while we are seeking satisfactions everywhere else, but once it has been dug up in the rocky soil of our sin and suffering, we will with great joy sell all we have to claim it. Once the tears of brokenness have cleared our eyes to behold the beatific vision of the gospel of God’s grace, we are ready to see the soul-stirring inheritance that is ours in Christ. When we have deeply felt the spiritual poverty of self-rule we will be prepared for the riches of the King, which are immeasurable, unsearchable, glorious, and full.And, yes, I am praying my family will have its spiritual eyes opened to taste and see that hot sauce is good. :-)
7 comments:
Fantastic analogy for the new birth. Our taste buds change... Great stuff, man.
Twenty-three years ago or so my stepfather introduced me to cayenne pepper. I made a show of not being able to handle the heat the first time I tried it and it became a minor family legend but slowly and steadily over the last two decades I have so acclimated myself to spicy food that no one in the family dreams of touching the spicy food I fix for myself or order at restaurants. I go through 2 to 4 oz of pepper a month. You never know but that one of your children may surpass your fondness for spicy food. :) Slow, incremental introduction can help. I'm sure you know that spicy food is easier to handle if there's a bit of dairy or some other form of fat in there to mediate the punch of the spice.
Sorry for commenting on the earthly and not spiritual lesson here but...
this is why I don't drink coffee. I was ribbed about this early in my ministry. I never liked the taste. I was told that it was an acquired taste. I said, "Why bother trying to acquire a taste I don't like in the first place?" What a waste...
So until God changes my taste buds, I'm never drinking coffee. :-) (That makes me a bad Baptist Pastor, I think.)
Out of the mouths of babes....
Jared, for the longest time, I HATED cottage cheese. Memaw once told us it was ice cream and gave us a big spoonful and we all had a great laugh. Years later I still hated the stuff. Every time I tried to lose weight, there was cottage cheese boldly written as a food choice. One day, I told myself to "just try a curd." I told myself that itty bitty curd was just cheese and it was good for me. Curd by curd, I began liking it! I think that is how ministry and planting seeds and LIVING a Christian life impacts the world. Sometimes a plateful is too much when you need to do what God calls you to do and "go big" when He calls to to do that. There is a time and place as long as we are in His will. Just thought you might appreciate my experience. God Bless.
"When we have deeply felt the spiritual poverty of self-rule we will be prepared for the riches of the King, which are immeasurable, unsearchable, glorious, and full."
I love that statement. It is so truthful.
Very good metaphor Jared...but with very scary implications to those who hold that mere duty and knowledge are the paths to Jesus.
Brad
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