I love to eat spaghetti and garlic bread. It tastes so good when I’m eating it, but when I’m finished I’m left with a taste in my mouth that’s not always that pleasant. Not to mention my breath. People can always tell when I’ve been eating garlic, if you know what I mean. I’m sure you can think of something that taste good going down, but leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth and makes your breath less than fresh. Maybe for you it’s onions or coffee or something else. No matter what it is, we can’t always run home to brush our teeth and garlge with mouthwash right away, so we reach for a piece of chewing gum to try and cover up what we’ve been eating.
We all have our favorite brand or flavor of gum, but it didn’t become our favorite until we tried it. My favorite is Stride spearamint chewing gum. It tastes great and the flavor lasts a really long time. It makes my mouth feel cleaner and it seems to do a pretty good job at fighting bad breath. I’ve just given you my testimony about Stride spearamint chewing gum. I can confidently tell you about it because I’ve actually tried it for myself and found all of these things to be true. If I told you how great Dentyne was, but had never actually tried it, all I would be doing is telling you what I’ve read or heard, not what I’ve actually experienced for myself. You’re going to believe me more if I tell you about something I’ve actually experienced instead of something that I’ve only read or heard about.
But, the real testimony isn’t in what I say, it’s in what I do. I can tell you all day long about how great Stride is, but if you see me pull out a piece of Orbit and chew it, you’re probably going to doubt all the great things I said about Stride. After all, if Stride was that good, wouldn’t I want to chew it all the time? The point is, I have a choice every time I buy chewing gum. If you see me buying something other than Stride, then maybe Stride isn’t that good, after all, so you see no need to try it for yourself.
So, where is the God Taste Test in all of this? Let’s start over, again, and make a few changes. Instead of garlic, onions, and coffee, let’s talk about sin. There’s no denying that sin gives us momentary pleasure. If it didn’t, we would never sin because it wouldn’t taste so good going down. But, sin leaves a bad taste in your mouth and people can usually tell. You may think you’re covering it up, but anytime there’s unresolved sin in someone’s life, the evidence is all around them. People try to cover up their sin in many ways, but there’s only one way to really deal with it. Jesus.
Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Now, I can sit here and tell you all about Jesus and how great He, how much He loves you, how He wants to help you, and how He died for your sins, but you’re not going to know until you taste and see for yourself that the Lord is good.
As far as my testimony about Jesus is concerned, if I told you all about Him, but haven’t experienced His love for myself, then all I’m doing is telling you what I’ve read and heard about Him. You’re not going to be that convinced if I try to talk about things I haven’t experienced. Either way, it won’t really matter to you unless what I do supports what I say about Jesus. I can talk all day long about the love of Christ, but if you never see me practice what I preach, then nothing I say will mean anything to you. That means I have to make a conscious decision every day to choose Christ over this world.
There’s something else this God Taste Test does for us. It helps us get through anything. Matthew 24:14 says that “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony and then the end will come.” There are two things I notice about this verse. First of all, the gospel is to be preached as a testimony. Remember, a testimony is only a testimony when you have experienced it for yourself. Otherwise, you’re not testifying, you’re only repeating what you’ve read or heard. Think of it like a court of law. An eye-witness gives testimony to what they’ve seen for themselves to be true. A lawyer never calls someone to the stand who has only heard about something. Their “testimony” is not even admissible as evidence. It’s only when we have seen it for ourselves do we become powerful witnesses for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Also, notice that once you preach the gospel as a testimony, as something you know to be true for yourself, then the end will come, that is, the end of what ever you’re going through. When you taste and see that the Lord is good and share your testimony about what God has done for you, your focus will be on God and not your problems. Your problems become much smaller because God is much bigger.
Taste and see for yourself that the Lord is good and you will understand that He can get you through anything. When you experience the love and provision of God for yourself, then you will learn to trust in and rely on Him for everything. Then the end of what ever you’re going through will come. Take the God Taste Test if you haven’t already. See for yourself.
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