Fresh Veggies And A Fresh God
Don’t you just love the beginning of summer when all the fresh vegetables begin coming in and are ready to harvest? It is quite possibly the best feasting time of the year, especially if you are a country boy or girl at heart. Somehow, getting the produce fresh and cooking it up just tastes better. In my book you just can’t beat it.
On my way to work this morning, about ten miles North of the city, I drove down a little winding road heading through the river bottoms of the Red River. The road was winding and bumpy and terminated just before you would have to climb the levee of the river. There at the end of the road in that flat, fertile ground, were beautiful fields of purple hull peas (Some people call them “Cow Peas,” but who wants to waste them on a cow?), tomatoes, squash, sweet corn, eggplants, bell peppers, watermelons and cantaloupes. It makes my mouth water just to think about it. Man, you cook up a mess of those fresh veggies and they are so good it would make you want to get an extra set of teeth. You slice into one of those tomatoes and you do not see some light pink meat. It is red, red all the way to the core. The corn, awe, the corn. You shuck it, desilk it and drop it in the pot right on the cob until it is done. Put a little butter on it and it is absolutely like eating candy corn on a stick. Mmmmm! It makes my stomach growl just to think about it.
I wasn’t there but a few minutes and you would have thought it was a major traffic jam coming at you. People were coming from everywhere to get a little taste of that which was fresh and wholesome. The cantaloupes were half the size of a basket ball. Some people will never go to the trouble of buying the fresh produce because it takes a little extra work. But then again, they will not taste the same sweetness and wholesomeness as those who do. They will eat and be satisfied… but satisfied with less than it could be. There are no cans, no preservatives and no additives. It is just fresh picked and ready to prepare and hit the pot. I would venture to say that most people would prefer to have that which was fresh, but will settle for that which is not because it requires less on the part of the cook. And, as far as food is concerned, that is neither right or wrong. It is just a choice we make. So, the less that is required, the less that will be returned.
What about God? Now, I do not really want to compare God to a cantaloupe or a tomato, and hope this does not come out that way. But I do know this. We settle for less than fresh when it comes to Him. Religion as a whole has God all figured out. We know a little about His attributes and a few things about His Word. Sermon after sermon, study after study, class after class, we rarely see God differently. Our views become stale, or at least, less than fresh, and we settle for it. We feed a steady diet in churches of the same ole thing and it is like eating the same meal three times a day. After a while, you just get tired of it and long for something different. But, something different and something better requires more out of us, so, we settle and continue on or quit.
God is not a stale God. But, He is fresh and new. Every discovery opens us up to something fresh and reviving. God does not change. He is still the same God who created the universe. He is still the same God who walked with man in the Garden of Eden. He is still the same God who delivered His people out of Egypt. Who spoke to the prophets. Who prepared and executed the plan for our redemption and who still lives to work in the lives of the people of this earth. But, God is fresh and desires with all His heart to refresh us. He wants Himself to be in us like a living spring of water, giving us a fresh and refreshing drink every day of our lives. He longs to fill us with Himself.
We have a choice with God just like we have with the vegetable garden. We can open the freezer doors of religion and bring out some prepackaged view of God, or, we can greet Him fresh every new day. It takes a little more effort. We greet Him and pray that the eyes of our heart will be enlightened, and soon, our views and relationship with God will be fresh and vibrant and even exciting.
I think I might go and put on a pot of peas, slice up a tomato and steam some squash and hack open one of those cantaloupes, or at least get the pro cook to do it. But first, it would probably be a great idea to stop and pray, asking God to open the eyes of my heart that I might see Him… and see Him in a fresh way. God will refresh me. He will reveal Himself to those who want to see. So, I had better get prepared to eat a wonderful supper and bask in the Glory of God.