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real light living

God IS Good.

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Chris took me out for a date night last week, and I found myself drawn to this cute little ice cream shop, the Yum Yum Shoppe. I had taken the kids there a few days before for a treat, where I tried out a new flavor called Salted Caramel Praline.

It was amazing.

The salted caramel goodness had been calling my name ever since. I just had to have it. (And, no, I’m not pregnant!)

We arrived at the Yum Yum shop, mouth watering, and ordered a huge waffle cone filled with this yummie ice cream. Now, since I know this is not P90X approved, I needed to find a way to fit this into my plan.

So, I skipped dinner.

I will crave what tastes good to me.

Poor eating habits aside, this is a great picture of what happens when we crave God.

When you taste something so incredible, you are drawn to it; you crave it. You have to have it, and you will forgo other things (in my case, dinner) in order to fit what you want into your life.

We experience God through many ways, but especially through His Word. If I have truly tasted that God is good, my actions will follow. The Word of God will be a non-negotiable in my life, just like a newborn baby who cannot live without milk. He will cry and cry and cry until he gets what he needs.

What tastes better than God?

We see two types of commands in 1 Peter 2:1-3: “put away” and “long for”.

I think it is important to pay attention to the order in which we strive for obedience. Now, I  have experienced where the presence of things in my life have dulled the yearning for God in my life. Once I “put aside” those things, I found my desire for God rising. This is essentially fasting, and a great Biblical practice.

Yet, there are time where I get so focused on the putting off of sin, and all that needs to change, that I get stuck. The will to get rid of sin in my life will only take me so far.

What ends up happening to so many of us is that we spend so much time trying to put sin to death that we don’t spend enough time striving to know God deeply, trying to gaze upon the wonder of Jesus Christ and have that transform our affections to the point where our love and hope are steadfastly on Christ. The goal is this: that Christ would become more beautiful and desirable than the allure of sin. —Matt Chandler, The Explicit Gospel

A craving to experience more of God’s goodness through His Word is sustaining. Once we have tasted that God is good, we will want more and more of His goodness in our lives. We will “skip dinner” to have Him. The sin—or TV show, or sleeping in—that we once thought enjoyable we will push away in order to have time with our good God instead.

So, ladies, let’s be careful to focus more on the goodness of God, and pray for a greater craving for His Word. It is only this that will allow us to put away our vices.

Because God tastes better.

What did you learn this week in your study of 1 Peter? I would love to hear what you are learning!

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Comments

  2. Fantastic post. I am in a season where this truth has finally become my reality. I have spent YEARS trying in vain to simply eliminate the re-occurring sins in my life. I knew the Gospel but somehow managed to box it in and keep it separated from my pursuits of knowing God intimately. It was when I began to deepen my relationship with the Lord through scripture that Christ became more desirable than the lure of sin. Thank you for the timely reminder and the excellent Chandler quote. 

    • “It was when I began to deepen my relationship with the Lord through scripture that Christ became more desirable than the lure of sin.”

      Yes! Thanks for sharing this. 

  3. I loved the correlation you made here in craving things like food versus craving God.  This part of the quote by Matt Chandler really struck me: trying to gaze upon the wonder of Jesus Christ and have that transform our affections to the point where our love and hope are steadfastly on Christ. 

    I know that I get caught up in the “what” I shouldn’t be doing rather than worshipping and praising God for who He is and what already exists that is so good and praiseworthy.  I realize I am doing things backwards many days…figuring out how I can change my sin first rather than soaking in the affections, love and hope of Christ first, knowing He will naturally change my sin. I pray for the ability to crave God more than I crave
    anything else in this world and that we all are able to taste and savor the goodness of our living God.

     

    • “…figuring out how I can change my sin first rather than soaking in the affections, love and hope of Christ first, knowing He will naturally change my sin. I pray for the ability to crave God more than I crave anything else”

      Beautifully stated, Tara.

  4. Great analogy! I find that for me, many times spiritually I’m not feasting on sin but rather empty “Calories.” I appreciate the challenge to evaluate my spiritual diet throughout the day!

    • I loved this analogy with the feasting on *empty calories.* Well said! I am trying to rid my life of those things that come up short in terms of truly fulfilling me. And they always tend to point me back in His direction.

    • Yep, and sometimes those “empty calories” which seem so harmless are the most effective distraction from our pursuits of Jesus!

  5. Yes, you are so right! God is good. I have tasted deeply of His goodness for many many years. Life pushes  along and with way too many distractions.  Even if they are good distractions, none-the-less, they are distractions from the presence of Jesus. I so much appreciate doing the study in this online community in which I find encouragement to “taste and see that God is good.” I love the study 🙂 (That ice cream sounds fantastic.)  

    • The “good” distractions are the most dangerous ones for me! 

      I am glad you are enjoying the study, Joy! This has been a great community!

  6. I love the analogy of skipping things so you can get to what you crave. It is so true, I have just never looked at it from a spiritual perspective. The closer we draw to Him, the more we see His goodness, and the more we crave Him. It’s so simple, yet why so hard sometimes!?

  7. As I was studying 1 Peter 2:1-3 this week, I was struck by the following.  (Just as a warning I am type A personality).LOL
    I am reading from the Common English Bible and I’ve used some parallel versions BUT…..
    1 Peter 2:1 KJV “Wherefore laying aside ALL malice, and ALL guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and ALL evil speakings.” Emphasis mine.  My CEB version of the Bible uses the word ALL too.

    Why is the word ALL used in front of malice, guile and evil speakings only?  I got kinda stuck on this and not sure how to find the answer.  I would appreciate any guidance.
    M. Waters
    http://hugapoohlouise.wordpress.com

    • I noticed that too, Melissa. I didn’t have time to look into it deeper than that. If I do, I’ll let you know! 

      There may be something significant there, or not. But those are good “rabbit trails” to follow!

      Good job!

  9. So appropriate for this point in my faith journey. God is peeling away the “sins” that do not reflect his image and its not comfortable but it is so good.I am in fellowship with him and right under his care. When I tried to “clean” up on my own…it was always uphill with no results just temporary fixes. What I was doing was just an antibacterial gel. Praise God he is the living, 
    healing, cleansing  water. He truly makes things Pure.

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