Better Than Candy?

The best thing that has ever been said about me went something like this, “You are like a kid in a candy store when you talk about God.” It gives me happy, warm fuzzy feelings when I think about it. And anyone who really knows me knows that happy, warm fuzzy feelings are not something I experience or speak about with any consistency or very frequently.

Why would words like that mean so much? I think it is because I am kind of purpose driven and in those words I can catch a glimpse of my purpose. “Talk about Me with the excitement of a little kid who has just been loosed in a candy store - with a limitless debit card and the PIN.” Now, oddly enough, I am not a huge fan of candy. Some days, chocolate and I get along and I have a weakness for jujubes and sour dinosaurs, maybe wine gums, but otherwise, not really a fan. It makes my teeth feel funny.

However, I have two children who do love candy. Obsessively some might think. They get wiggly dreaming about it or the possibility of obtaining it. They hoard it when they do have it. They will spend their hard earned money on it, they will consume it in huge amounts or sometimes savour it sparingly. And if they offer you some, you know you are special.

And really, could there be a more perfect picture of how we should love God? 

I don't obsess about candy, but I can see why someone would. It kind of stimulates all our senses. Lots of times it is really pretty, and in a candy store, all the colours lined up, the different shapes and massive variety. Oh my eyes! And the smells, especially anything lemony. Some candy, like pop rocks, even make noise! And then of course....the taste. Candy covers it all.

I see a sunset or a tank full of colourful fish, oh my eyes! There is something about the smell of fall, even though I don't like the cold, that makes me feel content. An uplifting song and the taste of a peach. God's creation covers it all.

But then there is HIM. I seriously get these intense shivers when I think about certain descriptions of Him. Beaten and subdued on the cross makes me sad and sometimes angry. But this:

 “His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:

king of kings and lord of lords.”

(Revelation 19:12-16, NIV)

Do you feel the power rolling off that? If you do not, I am praying that someday you will, because there is nothing like it. I have made many misguided attempts at conjuring false, fuzzy warm feelings but nothing feels like the power that rolls off those words....

Sorry, that got a little more intense than candy right there. But that is what happens around Him.

There is a lot of 'delighting' that is suggested in the Bible. Delight yourself in the Lord, delight yourself in His law to love others, He delights in us, He delights in you. Candy is definitely delightful. But delightful doesn't quite cover that power thing, I will admit. That just slays you -.

Anyway, I think I delight most in thoughts of the next heaven and the next earth, because things will feel more right there. Maybe, if there is candy, it will not make my teeth feel funny. But mostly it will be great because of the no tears, crying, mourning or pain part. Not to mention the things that no eye has seen, no ear heard, no mind conceived. Because, come on, can we get better than the sound of pop rocks? Better than candy?

And to always be in the presence of THAT POWER? Not just get little blips of it once in a while? Oh my heart!

If you think I am aiming to entice you, like a little kid trying to get mom or dad to come explore the candy store, you would be right. I think that's my purpose. I am trying to entice you to think about a relationship with Jesus. Because truly connecting heart to heart with that power source will make here much more bearable - and will assure you experience next. It will be worth it. 

Better than candy.