Oh myyyyyy....I estimate that there were at least 800-900 delicately decorated Christmas cookies, melt-in-your-mouth slabs of fudge, bakery-style sweet breads ...even chocolate dipped cherries mascarading as mice, sitting on the church counter this morning. A complete subalpine display of sugar coated calories. Yummmm. As women, don't we find near soulmates by our sweet tooths and fellow artisans in food decor? It was such a "sweet" time of fellowship after Bible study today. (Bad pun, I know.)Driving home with Maddie, I thought about carrying her around all that temptation for 45 minutes this morning and not once did she ask for a bite. She didn't take a crumb from the corner of my mouth nor do her normal "back arch" when she wanted down to get her hands on what is close herself. Someone said "Wow! Maddie isn't crying for a bite of a cookie?"
I then told my friend how she'd never had a cookie before, plus she is highly allergic to nuts. Sugar doesn't make her hyper, (I can definitely handle hyper), it makes her very angry and upset, prone to cry for no reason and not easily comforted.
Isn't it such a great parallel to us as well? Since she'd never bitten into the amazing taste of a cookie, she was not tempted by it at all. God not only warns us about sin, he says "Don't even taste it." He tells us that it is only pleasurable for a season. Then, like that Lay's Potato Chip commercial aptly says, "You never can eat just one." And so one bite into sin usually leads to two...and before you know it, you want your own bakery.
The effects of sugar in Maddie are just like what sin does to me. I get miserable, frustrated, angry at others, touchey and not easily comforted. I can never receive true comfort when my heart has a prideful sin issue. But Satan loves to tempt us. I found one small cookie that actually looked a bit healthy. It had oatmeal, raisins, and what looked like apple bits in it and I thought "Oh THAT looks ok for her to try." When I picked it up though, I saw the little nuts and knew one bite could send her into anaphylactic shock and be life threatening if not immediately treated. Satan has a way of hiding the harmful, dangerous effects of sin within a sweet appearance.
I tell you nothing you don't already know. The Lord just needed to remind me this morning and I take His warnings to heart...and now I've shared them with you. May you be so "full" from eating His Word, feasting on His faithfulness and tasting of His love, that you can walk by a counterfeit feast of the world's delicacies and Satan's dainties and find that you are not tempted in the very least.
Psalm 34:8 "O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him."
