Juggling Honey

...a "quick " grocery trip...

My wife frequently takes me grocery shopping with her. Now, I love hanging out with my wife, but grocery shopping ranks pretty low on my list of things I want to do. Still, I get to spend time with my wife so I go and try to find ways to amuse myself (as everyone on my social media pages can attest to). The holidays are usually more fun because there is always an embarrassing hat I can wear around the store, or a holiday themed item I can make fun of. I am often amazed at some of the products that companies think people want to buy. I can almost hear them desperately working in some stuffy, windowless room during a week long planning session that has yielded no results.
                "Everybody loves Little Female Explorer Cookies, right?"
                "They sure do!"
                "And people love flavored milk, right?"
                "I like where this is going!"
                "Let's make Mint Cookie flavored milk!"
                "That's an awesome idea!"
And then room erupts into spastic high-fives and weird group hugs. This is how I amuse myself at that big chain store that I won't name for trademark reasons.




Last week during a “quick” grocery trip, I was trusted to go all by myself and get an item for my wife. As I passed the large double swinging doors that lead to the back, a worker came through the door at a pretty fast clip while pulling a loaded down cart. She tried to cut the corner which caused the overstuffed cart to slam into the door frame. When people hear a loud bang and an angry grunt, they naturally stop and stare. As I am included in this group labeled people, I also stopped and stared. Of course, my stare was accompanied by a small snicker and a grin. Don't get too upset with me, my turn was fast approaching.

...this weird shaped glass jar...

A jar of honey, with the comb, had caught my eye. My curiosity prompted me to pick up this weird shaped glass jar and study the floating chunky golden mass inside. As I tried to place him back on top of his buddy, the little devil decided to slide sideways and push three other jars toward the edge of the shelf and apocalypse. All of a sudden I went into panic mode; the one where you see everything happening in slow motion. I'm sure the other people on the aisle were wondering why a big, 6'4" guy was waving his arms at the shelf and then flinging his body against it. I imagine it looked something like a three legged dog trying to walk on ice. Then I heard it. My own wife laughed at me. Once my heart stopped racing and my hands quit twitching, I looked and noticed that some stock boy had stack to them two high but only three deep; I guess to make it look better. Or it was a set up and they were trying to win $10,000 on America's Funniest Videos. We'll see in a few months which one it was (I get 10%).

We’ve all done things to embarrass ourselves. And in that eternal seeming moment, we all wish that no one was there to see us. We spend so much time and effort trying to convince people we have it all together. We attempt to hide our little faults and foibles. We would never say we are perfect, but we don’t want people to actually see our imperfections. When the employee at the grocery store rammed her cart into the door, it was easy to tell that she was wanting to be anywhere but there. My first thought, after wondering how much all this busted honey would have cost, was, “How many people saw that?” If we’re lucky, the embarrassing moment ends shortly thereafter. Or, if you’re like me, someone in your family sees your shining example of how not to do something and it gets added to the “Remember When” encyclopedia that is read at every holiday gathering. Regardless of which one you are, Paul writes something for the foolish in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31. Grab a Bible or click the scripture reference. There is a wealth of information in these verses. Let's focus on just one aspect for this post:

•  26 – Be honest with yourself. By the world’s standards, most of us aren’t very significant.
•  27 – God doesn’t do things, use things, or think the way we do.
•  28 – Those who place their worth in what they can do, what they have, or who they are, are wrong. God does great things with the “down and out” club to show everyone that what we bring to the table is nothing compared to what He brings to the table.
•  29 – He does this to show the truth of what we really are, so that we don’t think we can do it all on our own.
• 30 – Any hope that we have is because Jesus came and died to redeem us from Hell, He sanctified us (setting us apart as God’s), and cleaned us up which made us righteous.
• 31 – He does this so we will loudly proclaim that anything great about us is because of what God’s doing through us.

The truth found in these verses is found all throughout the Bible. Abraham and Sarah were barren, so God made a nation out of them. The Israelites were slaves to the world power of their time, so God chooses them to be His people. Moses was a murderer, Gideon was the least of the least, and David was a singing shepherd boy, but they were all chosen by God to lead His people. Mary was a dirt poor teenager from a back woods town, Ruth was a foreigner, and Rahab was a prostitute, but God decides to put them all in Jesus’ family tree. The twelve disciples were a rag tag bunch of men who God used to change the world. The list goes on and on, and the truth is…God still works this way.

Why does God work this way? Because the nothings of this world are the ones who are willing to embrace the truth of the cross. Those who think they are something are not willing to accept the cross. Why? Because the message of the cross is that no one has anything to bring to the table. The reason that Jesus had to die was to pay a price that we couldn’t pay for ourselves without losing everything. To accept His gift of salvation, we must admit that we are messed up, believe that God sent Jesus to pay the price for our mistakes, and confess with our mouths that we will make Jesus the Lord of our lives.

It’s easy for earthly nothings to become heavenly somethings.

It’s easy for earthly nothings to become heavenly somethings. Pun intended, there’s nothing in the way; there’s nothing that they won’t let go of for the truth of the cross and the promise of heaven. But the earthly somethings often become heavenly nothings because something is always in the way. Maybe that something is money; Jesus did say it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven. Why? Because wealth offers the illusion of security and we feel like we don’t need that Jesus stuff. It doesn’t have to be wealth, it could be social status, personal accomplishments, or even sinful desires. Whatever label you stick on it, its pride. We take pride in ourselves and we aren’t willing to admit we are nothing to anybody.

The hard part about being an earthly nothing is that we think it determines our heavenly worth. We say things like, “God can’t use me because of this fault that I have.” And then we begin to start believing what we say. But the truth is, we are all loved by the One who created us. He loved us enough to send His Son to die so that we can have the opportunity to be in a right relationship with Him. So the next time you fall flat on your face, get tongue tied in an important meeting, or just simply fail spectacularly... remember that God loves you and can use you to do great things for his kingdom. Just embrace your nothingness and give it to Him.