Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Vinegar Anyone?

It is a hot day. The thermostat reads 117 in the shade. You have just been on a long hike because you ran out of gas and no one stopped to help you. Because you did not expect to be walking in the heat you didn’t have your hat or sunglasses. Now your skin is on fire and your feet are swollen in your shoes.

You enter the service station red faced and frustrated. The attendant looks at you with compassion and says in an even tone, “Would you like a glass of cold milk or a swig of vinegar to cool you off?” Not too hard a decision is it? Yet in our spiritual life many of us choose the vinegar.

Instead of being filled with destructive emotions such as anger, unforgiveness, resentment, bitterness, jealousy and envy, let’s act like newborn babies. Let’s be focused on understanding the spiritual nutrients found in the Word of God.

If you have come to learn by experience that God is gracious and kind toward you, then seek him all that much more. You can grow in your love for God and in your love for other people by soaking in his presence and in his word (1 Peter 2:1-3).