What's In Your Sweetener?

There are many choices we can use when we need something sweet. We put "the pink stuff" in our coffee, a sprinkle of sweetener over our fruit and heaps of sugar in our desserts. Even though a little goes a long way.

God gave us the sweetness of natural honey and the sugar cane. They will tame our sweet tooth for a little while, and then we start craving more.

My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste: So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off. Proverbs 24:13-14

The Lord says that knowledge and wisdom will be even sweeter than the sweetness of the honey comb. The craving to be immersed in God's Word should be just like the fleshly desire for candy and cookies.

But what about the other stuff - the artificial sweeteners. They don't occur naturally, but are created by man to be a substitute for the sweetness of sugar. Open a little packet and you have instant access to something sweet.

We try to do this with our wisdom, too. Isn't it easier to hear someone else speak about God's Word than to put in the study time ourselves? Isn't it more convenient to listen to someone else's prayer and say, Yes Lord, than to find our own words?

This is substituting the real sweetness of God with something man has made. There is nothing sweeter in this life than intense personal fellowship with the Lord. Nothing artificial can ever take the place of His communion.

If we've been trying to find an easier way, a different way or an artificial way to find wisdom, then we're only getting the pink stuff. Let's make today the day we purge the cabinets of our heart and throw out anything that isn't the real, pure sweetness of God.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Holland Creme - That Amazing White Stuff In Donuts

Image
I remember going to the grocery store every Saturday morning when I was growing up, and my favorite place in the entire store was the donut case. All the glazed, powdered and filled baked goods drew me like a magnet. My favorites, far and away, were the ones filled with that beautiful white, fluffy creme. At the time I didn't know it was called Holland Creme - I just knew it was the most amazing concoction ever. Ever. Here is my version of this sweet treat. You can make your own fried donuts and fill them, or like I did here, you can cut a crevice into store-bought donuts with a knife and fill them with creme in a piping bag. Either way, you're going to love it. Ingredients: 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1 cup vegetable oil 1 cup shortening 1 cup butter 1 Tbsp vanilla 7 cups powdered sugar 1. Make a simple syrup by combining sugar and water in a sauce pan over medium heat until boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool complet
Read more

Recovering An Old Card Table And Making It Usable Again

Image
This card table recover project has been on my to-do list for months. I've been using it as my workspace in the craft room for quite some time, and it sees a lot of abuse. Here it is now, with a neutral cover on it so I can take better pictures for my tutorials. There were dents and dings in the old blue covering from metal tools. And yes, I've used my embossing heat tool on it several times, leaving pretty good scars. The padding underneath the blue cover also made it difficult to keep paper crafts flat when adhering them together, so it was time for something new. That's where a simple vinyl tablecloth comes in handy. The process to recover the table is pretty simple, but I learned a couple of lessons the hard way. I share them with you now. First, don't do this on any surface but a carpet. I tried it on the deck int he sunshine to get better pictures, but all it did was tear up the cover. Second, get a second pair of hands to help you kee
Read more

Crafts For Teen Girls To Make

Image
In our teen girls Bible study, we're studying our way through the Proverbs 31 woman and it's been such a blessing to me, as I hope it's been to them. Every month we spend an afternoon or an evening together studying Scripture, making something amazing in the kitchen and creating something that corresponds to the verse we're in. Choosing the crafts each time can be a challenge for several reasons. It needs to be something they can completely finish (or do most of) because once they leave they're probably not going to work on it themselves - that's just the nature of teenagers. Remember? It also needs to be a project that keeps they're attention, is age-appropriate and is cool enough that they'll want to keep it or give it to someone special. But hey, no pressure on the Bible study leader, right? Here are just a few of the projects we've done together in the year we've been meeting. * This month's craft will be the adorable cross stit
Read more