Corona Devo 1363
I got into a holiday-food discussion with a friend the other day and pecan pie came up.
"Do you like that?", she asked, frowning. "It's just so...sweet and rich and sugary. One or two bites and I am on a sweetness overload."
But the whole time she was listing the "downsides" to pecan pie, I was just nodding my head and smiling bigger and bigger.
Every thing she said was comepletely true...and I still love pecan pie.
I love the thick sweetness and deep richness, and I don't get tired of the sugary-pecan-gel. Plus, I'd like some whip cream on top too, please.
That level of sweetness never gets old for me.
I realized that the same is true for people. We can (hopefully) be kind to everyone. Patient with most. Intentional even when it is it might be a challenge.
There are many kinds of people and God loves all of us and every one of us, so we should (also) love everyone.
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (15) If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. ~Galatians 5:14-15
But I have to admit, as I think most of us will...that the sweet ones are easier to love.
I've been a crabapple pouting in the corner, and it's not hard to avoid that person. In fact, it's difficult to approach that person, and it is often very difficult to have conversation or connection with that (kind) of person.
But I've been the sweet one too, and even the sourest of puss's have a difficult time turning down love (God's love), when it is radiating out of us.
I don't mean fake sweetness or superficial-sugar, but if we are in sync with our Lord and are radiating his fruits, then people will be affected in a positive way. And that's what God wants: for his children to be filled with His fruits and for us to love on others with them.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law... (25) Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. (26) Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. ~Galatians 5:22-26
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If I think about the people I gravitate toward...most of them are not unlike pecan pie. They have a thick sweetness about them and a deep richness to them. Having a friend like this is like having whip cream on top too.
That level of sweetness in a person never gets old---it just accepts, comforts, encourages and allows us to be us when with them.
That is the kind of person God instructs us to be in His Word: sweet.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. ~I Corinthians 13:4
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“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” ~Ephesians 4:32
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But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. ~Luke 6:35
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Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ~Colossians 3:12-13
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She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness. ~Proverbs 31:26
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We will have many opportunities today to be anything that we want to be today: be sweet.
Be the thick sweetness and deep richness that is so very lacking in our world today.
That level of sweetness (rooted in Christ) never gets old.
Blessings,
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