Rice cakes

This morning I got up earlier than I would have liked.

(...and crankier than I would have liked, although a glance at the book "Respectable Sins" by Jerry Bridges brought to mind that being irritable and unthankful are both respectable sins I frequent. After prayer and an attitude adjustment, I brightened up a fair bit...and was grateful that God's mercies are new every morning!!)

But an early day often makes for a productive day. And so I tackled the (rather large) pile of ironing with ferver and Revive Our Hearts playing in the background.

One little quote/example made me think "huh...now when you say it like that.......". And I just wanted to share it with you all! "...choosing the world over Christ, what the world offers over what Christ offers, it’s kind of like choosing to eat rice cakes rather than have a great Thanksgiving meal."

Now think about that for a minute. Rice cakes. Plain, old, non-filling, bland rice cakes.

Or.

Juicy turkey, creamy mashed potatoes, vegetables made yummy (with lots of butter...because it's Thanksgiving), rich gravy, and to top it all off, pecan pie for dessert. (I say "ewwwwy" to those of you who do pumpkin pie, but I suppose everyone's entitled to their own taste buds.) Is there even a competition there? Even if you're on a diet and have somehow convinced yourself that rice cakes are actually quite tasty (hats off to you if you have...), if someone placed Plate A and Plate B in front of you, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't give Plate A another glance!!

So why is it that I (we?) keep going back and back to what the world offers and think "that's good stuff". Because it's not! There is no comparison. None whatsoever!

"You know why I think people make that choice of the rice cake or choose the things of the world rather than Christ? I think, it’s that they have not yet tasted deeply enough of Christ to be able to see what joy there is in walking in fellowship and intimacy with Him....
That’s what we want our lives to call this generation to—to see that God’s truth is good. His ways are good. His standards are good and pure. He is holy. He is worth pursuing. He is worth loving. And we want our heads to be screwed on straight. We want our hearts to be full of light and full of Christ and full of His Spirit in representing to the world the holiness and the goodness of our God."

Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.