Psalm 34 - Banana Pudding

Psalm 34

8 Taste and see that the LORD is good

I am reminded of the horrific ‘Banana Pudding’ night at the Pruet house.
There is almost no dessert that I love, more than my wife’s banana pudding. I can’t remember who she got the recipe from…..but it was one of those things….when I tasted it for the first time, I was like,
“Honey!!!!! you have got to get this recipe.” And she did, and now it is her recipe..and it is devine.
Well one night, it had been a long time since Jenny had made it, and I said….”sweetheart, how bout making some banana pudding?” (and I was making sad puppy dog eyes) Of course she agreed.
Well that night at dinner…I was so excited to eat the banana pudding, and I couldn’t remember the last time we had it. So I was excited for the kids to join me in this awesome delectable treat.
So as dinner finished, I said, “Who wants banana pudding?” and I was raising my hand at my own question…and my son….didn’t. I was like….what’s wrong with him? He cant be my son….So I asked, why don’t you want any? And of course is answer was, “I don’t like it” to which I responded, “ How do you know you don’t like it, if you’ve never tried it?”
Anyway, this escalated to the point of him crying and me screaming that he would just try the banana pudding. He became irrational and I became incensed. It ended up being a battle of wills…..of which I don’t believe I’ve ever lost one of those. He eventually tried a bite…but that small amount of deliciousness….gave him the same reaction that I get when I tried liver….he gagged and almost threw up. Why? Because he had convinced himself that whatever he tasted was going to be rancid.
Needless to say, I don’t believe that I handled the who Banana Pudding incident correctly….but I did want him to try something that I loved. And I think, so many times we try to force Jesus down the throat of people…who for whatever reason, don’t think that they like Him. It offends us…..they become irate…..and it escalates to the point that they may never try Jesus again
This is what I love about “Loving Our Neighbor” and “Serving our City”…..people get a “taste” without ever stepping foot in a church building. They can make a rational judgment on Jesus based what we know Jesus to be about….. loving.

Psalm 23- Spare the Rod

I love this Psalm. Everyone knows this Psalm like they know “Roses are Red, Violets are Blue”… As I read this again….I thought…what a great shepherd. Shepherds give stability, they love, they guide, they feed and they also correct.

As parents we are to do all these things as well. We would be really bad parents if we didn’t discipline our children …and yes, there should be pain involved. Not necessarily physical pain…but I have always been a big fan of a nice swift swat on the butt.

But the connection I’ve heard made before is the ‘rod’ that comforts in the 23rd Psalm…is the rod of discipline. As parents, if we love our children…we are to correct loving with the rod of discipline. We’ve all heard “Spare the rod, spoil the child” the bible say we not only spoil them…we hate them.

Proverbs 13:24
He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.

We know that God disciplines those that he loves…
Hebrews 12:6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.

So its that discipline that comforts David in Psalm 23. When we are being disciplined….take heart, God loves us too much to let us continue in sin.

Leading With Love - Nehemiah 9 (kinda)

So I’m reading Nehemiah 9, this a.m. and I am thinking again as the passage reads;
3 They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day…..here again, like yesterday…this reverence for God’s word, this expectance of those who were ‘believers/followers’ and I think about another verse (totally unrelated) but I guess its what I have been thinking about this week.
1Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
And this thought struck me….why would we lead with anything but love? Why have I led with doctrine my whole life? Doctrine (the message of the cross) is foolishness to those perishing….the bible even says it.
As we talked about in Community Group last night….feeding the homeless a hot dog or a hamburger…is a loving thing to do….its a token from us to begin a conversation. A lot of these folks can find a free meal all over the downtown area…..maybe not quite as tasty as the burgers we serve up….but they can get nourished and filled.
But the token of love is so that we find out their greater needs. We may feed 400 to find out the needs of 3. But even then, it may be shelter, it may be medication, it may be assistance wading through the maze with governmental agencies, it may be a job, it may be a dress for an interview, it may be supplies for his/or work….and these needs we can meet. Still leading with love, meeting the needs…..and ultimately….God may whisper to that person….ask them why they do what they do.
I believe the easiest less messy thing to do is lead with doctrine. Most people are intolerant of folks cramming religion down their throat….they recoil, yet we’ve done our job, we’ve ‘planted the seed’ ….. now it’s up to someone else to cultivate (i.e. love and nurture). If we can take an example of farming a bit further. Their soooooo much work that must be done prior to planting the seed. Farmers till the fields, fertilize, herbicide, retill and pray for rain at the appropriate time…..even before the seed is planted. Much love and work go into the crop on the front end prior to the ‘seed being planted’.
On a time scale…way more time is spent in the fields before the crop is growing…and being harvested…than the actual time to reap. It’s just messier, it’s less glamorous and you don’t get to see the results.
Leading with love is tilling the fields, its priming the pump.

This is why Christ asked….”do you want to be healed” to those that didn’t know him…and reserved “who do you say that I am” for those who knew and followed him.