Supermarkets are truly amazing places to
shop. There is almost nothing of daily need that can’t
be found there and occasionally, one can even find food.
On a recent, fact-finding shopping trip,
I netted some of the following items:
• Fresh Fruit: blackberries, strawberries,
oranges, and lemons. • Fresh Bread: a whole
grain, heavy and rich loaf. • Fresh Cheese:
a wedge of flavorful Jarlsberg. • Fresh Vegetables:
several ears of corn, still in the husk, a potato, some
fresh basil
I also picked up:
• A can of potato chips, made from
reconstituted potato flakes and fake cheese flavoring.
• A container of “breakfast orange drink”
and “lemonade drink mix.” • A box
of corn flakes, made from cooked, mashed, extruded corn
and preservatives. • A package of strawberry
sponge cakes, with no strawberries actually listed in
the ingredients. • An aerosol can of spray on
cheese food.
Quite a bit of difference between these
two lists, isn’t there? One provides freshness,
richness of flavor and the reality that in a few days,
if this food is not all consumed, it will all go bad.
Mold will grow, bread will get stale, other signs of aging
will occur. Either eat it fresh or toss it. It’s
only good immediately. Frequent grocery shopping is necessary
to feast on such things.
The items in the other list would probably
still be consumable even after a nuclear blast. Full of
preservatives, very little actual real food in there,
they could provide calories in an emergency. But these
things are far, far removed from the power and freshness
of the things in the first list.
Our spiritual lives aren’t a whole
lot different from these two shopping lists. We can have
a vital, immediate relationship with God that must be
renewed frequently with times of worship, learning, helping
others with sacrificial service and seeing the mundane
things of our lives turned into acts of holiness. Or,
we can have a second-hand experience, with the real encounter
with a living and often terrifying God replaced by the
occasional thought about God, maybe even wandering into
a church once in a while, but not much else. The rest
of life is totally separate from any possibility of transformation
into hope and holiness.
In both cases, we will still live. We can
work, play, rest, and do necessary chores. But those who
are vitally engaged with God will be able to do these
things with the same burst of flavor that comes from eating
an ear of corn picked moment before cooking. Those who
go for the second hand experience can still get nutrients
from a box of mashed, cooked, extruded, boxed and preserved
corn flakes—but the deep joy and transformative
nature has been lost.
Just something to think about—on
your next trip to the grocery store and the next opportunity
to truly encounter the living, loving and powerful God
of the universe.
