Pass the salt....

So I married a precious, precious soul.  I mean, it seemed like God had me wait FOREVER for him, but he absolutely couldn’t have been more worth the wait.  JHe is the most patient, virtuous, generous, forgiving, did I mention patient?, person I have ever met.  What do you call it when a person does exactly the same thing when people are not watching as he does when people are watching?  Impeccable character?  That’s my man!!!  But he does have a secret dark flaw…….  We both do!  I know y’all are all leaned in close now.  Some of you know my guy, and you’re thinking, “oooooooooh, I knew there must be a deep, dark, hidden secret about him!”  Well there is!!  Here it is, guys…….he LOOOOOOOOOOOOVES some junk food!  And he’s not alone!!

We are trying REALLY hard to not pass this along to the next generation.  So many nights we can be seen feeding our little tater-tot, giving each other knowing glances over the chicken, peas, and yogurt that we are shoveling into that tiny chubby mouth, reading her a story and snuggling her down in her little bed, and then racing each other for the nice greasy pizza we know is waiting on us!  That’s not the worst of it.  We grab the entire box (we don’t waste time with plates anymore) and the bottle of (full-fat) ranch dressing, and head straight for our room.  We close the door, drench the pizza in ranch, and sit in bed while we SPLIT THE ENTIRE THING!!!!  MMMMMMMMMMMMMOI!!!  I know, we have a problem, right?  I have no idea what we’re going to do when Kate starts independently getting out of her room and we get “caught” by her one day! 

Anyway, I make this confession, because I recently had an experience that made me think a little deeper about our western culture lifestyles.  It was a few weeks ago when I saw my husband excitedly opening a fast-food bag with French fries inside.  I watched him heat up the fries so that they would be even more greasy!  Then he did an interesting thing.  He asked me for the salt.  Well, neither of us even knew where it was.  I mean, most of the salty things that come into our house don’t need any more salt.  When I asked him why, his answer was “it’s better that way!!”  We finally found the shaker, and he applied the salt.  He gave me a bite, and he was right!!!  It IS better that way!!!  J 

As we were enjoying this salty yumminess, God spoke to me.  You see, lately God has been dealing with me about all the scripture that I’ve chosen to ignore over the years.  Looking back, I cannot understand what I was thinking.  Did I think it was somehow OK, to cherry-pick the scripture that I thought applied to me?  Where in the world did that come from?  I mean, the whole Bible is for me!  The whole Bible is for all of us who are His children!  And the coolest part is…..it’s all for God’s glory AND for our joy!!!  That’s something God’s been teaching me lately…….that for believers, everything that is for God’s glory IS for our joy!  AND EVERYTHING IS FOR GOD’S GLORY!!  I mean, even the whole point of you and I is for God’s glory!  That’s something, right?  Turns out, God is not a satellite in our lives that exists so that we can ask for favors, or call on Him to “help us out” when we get in a bind…..turns out that WE WERE ACTUALLY CREATED FOR GOD’S GLORY!!  That’s right, we work for Him, not the other way around.  There is a verse in the Bible that used to trouble me.  I could not understand how it fit with the rest of the Bible.  I hear Kris explain sometimes that if it seems like the Bible is contradicting itself, then we are misunderstanding part of it.  That is soooo true, and that’s exactly what I was doing.  The verse is Romans 8:28.  “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”  Well, the first thing there is the part that is usually not quoted……the “who have been called according to His purpose” part.  That is so important!  Does that mean that if we love Him, if we are saved by Him……we are called according to HIS purpose????  Why, yes it does!  That’s right, we are not here for our own purposes…..we are here for God’s purpose!  And while that may seem overwhelming at first glance, it is sooooo comforting in the big picture!  I mean, my purposes are silly and futile!  My purposes never come to good end, but to be here…..to actually exist…..for God’s purpose??  Now, THAT is something!!!  How much does God love us that He would allow us to participate with him in HIS purpose?  Wow…….

Now let’s look at the other part….the part that we grow up believing means that everything’s roses and candy for God’s children…..the “in all things God works for our good” part.  That’s confusing, right?  Because a lot of the things that happen to us do not seem good.  But God is USING them for our good!  And get this…..God sees the big picture!  Not just the 70 years we have in this life……God loves us BEYOND this life!!  God is using everything that happens to us to refine us and sanctify us...... So the bad things that happen to us?  God uses them for our good!!  Our TRUE good!  And our TRUE good is ALWAYS for His Glory!!!  And so I have stopped trying to pray away the “bad things.”  Because for a believer, there really are no “bad things.”  God doesn’t waste a single one of our tears…..He turns everything around for His glory and for our joy!!  J  We serve an AWESOME God who loves us so much more than we realize!!

Back to the fries…..  so I sat there, eating greasy, salty fries with my man, and my mind wandered to our daughter that we have not yet met, as it often does.  And I was thinking where she probably is right now.  In an orphanage with no one-on-one time with another human being, with a bottle propped up against her cheek because there is no one to hold her and feed her a bottle, likely tied to her little bed with ropes around her tiny thighs because there is no money for heat in the building and tying her down is the only way to keep her from kicking her blanket off.  Then my mind drifted to other orphans in the world…..some without even the comforts of a bed or shelter.  Then I thought about ALL of the needy, hungry people in this world – young and old.  My heart hurts for them now as I type this.  And I started thinking about how over and over and over again in the Bible God tells us to feed the hungry people and to help the needy.  All of the years I ignored this make me sick to my stomach.  The Bible is SO CLEAR about our part in this.  In Matthew 25:35, Jesus even says the way we treat the poor is the way we treat Him!  And as I sat in my comfy home, in matching clean clothes, with plenty of food to eat, and more than enough silly technology to waste my time on, eating French fries, and even beyond that needing them to be seasoned just right, I became mortified in front of my Father.  Who do I think I am that I somehow “deserve” to live the luxurious life that I do, when there are people who have nothing??  And further, my Father is telling me to take care of them – it’s plain as day in the Bible.  How can I ignore that?  How in the world can I ignore the commandments of my Father after what He has done for me?  So I am disgusted with myself and my self-centeredness.  But you know what?  I am so joyful in my disgust, because just as much as I am disgusted, I am so encouraged that God loves me so much that I am worth dealing with!  He is not leaving me to wallow in my selfishness, he is sanctifying me for bigger and better things, and I am so thankful!! 

And the interesting part is, we serve a big, almighty God!!  God has the power to feed and clothe and shelter every person of this world with the nod of His mighty head, but He chooses not to.  He chooses to give us a part in this plan – He gets more glory that way!  What an absolute privilege it is to partner with our God in this way!!!  He doesn’t need us to feed His children, but He allows us to be a part of His plan!

We are not all called to adopt children, but we are all called to take care of the orphans, widows, and the needy.  The blessing is in the obedience!!  We serve a mighty God!!!

-allison