Love adds sweetness
When I was a kid, I remember a time when my mother decided to make up some chocolate nut fudge. She had all the ingredients assembled on her kitchen counter while she was busy whipping something up on the stove. I checked it out — and discovered that it was a pan half full of this lovely chocolate sauce and so I did what all normal children would have done — I asked for a taste.
Mother told me that I could have some when it was ready — but I, of course, put on a sad little face and said, just a little taste please. She then told me I wouldn’t like it but I didn’t believe her — I mean what was there not to like — lovely chocolate sauce — just a little spoonful — and so, relenting, she gave me a taste. It was awful. It was bitter. It looked like chocolate and my mother assured me, as she laughed at my puckered up face — that it was all chocolate and nothing but chocolate. That was the problem with it. It was nothing but chocolate! It lacked something very essential to make it taste really good: it lacked sugar.
Sometimes we live our lives with something missing, something lacking, something absent. Love — the kind of love that God has for us — is the yardstick, measure and norm, of our faith. Love is the test of our faith. It involves seeking the highest good for God’s creation. It is seeing everyone through the lens of Christ and treating them as Christ has treated us.
We do fail the test of love some of the time don’t we? We shouldn’t take our lapses lightly — should we? Notice I say “Our lapses” because it is about us. Love is the test of our faith — it is the test of our community and it is the test of each one of our lives. Earnestly strive for the greater gifts — the greatest of which is love. Strive for it and live as if you have it for in truth you do.
Turn to God to pass the love test each minute of each day!
Editor’s note: The Rev. Dr. Scott Stewart is the pastor of Pea Ridge United Methodist Church and Brightwater Methodist Church. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. He can be contacted at revjstewart@gmail.com or 479-659-9519.