A Familiar Flavour

We are blessed the unchanging, eternal God has made the way of salvation simple enough for a child to understand:  by faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour, God who became flesh, sinners who repent can receive forgiveness and eternal life.  A child knows what it is like to trust their parent to pick them up and carry them.  You don't need a doctorate to understand what it means to rely or depend on someone.  A baby can tell the difference between good and bad milk, and very early in our Christian walk God helps us to discern truth from deception.  You don't need 20 years of professional experience in the dairy industry to know when milk has curdled and gone off.  If a child failed to do a sight or sniff test of sour milk before drinking it, only a brief taste would be required before the whole glass of milk would be rejected.

When I observe eating and drinking habits of children, they notice when flavours are different.  They can drink too much of what makes them sick, and they can avoid eating or drinking what is healthy for them.  God has so designed children to have parents to provide food for them and guide them to "try" new foods that are healthy when children would be more pleased to eat dessert only.  This is similar to the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives, for through God's word He presents new ways of thinking, speaking and living that are foreign to us.  As we submit and surrender to Him, obedience to God provides satisfaction living for ourselves cannot supply.  Jesus is the Bread of Life, and His word sustains and guides us with His wisdom.  We become familiar with God's voice, His tone and prefer the Scriptures rightly divided--to the point we notice when doctrine or teachings are off.

There are many accurate, edifying ways to teach the same Bible verses, and God is able to help us discern truth from error.  While there is freedom for a variety of interpretations at times (the Bible being infinitely complex and multi-faceted), by the authority of God's word Christians can know what they believe and why.  God's ways and thoughts are beyond our understanding, and when confronted with things we do not or cannot know we can comfortably fall back upon the God we know and knows us.  It used to bother me when my kids pointed out something in my cooking or baking was "different" this time, but I have grown to appreciate this because it demonstrates a spiritual truth:  as our palates can be refined to noticed subtle changes, so our spiritual "palate" can weigh words which are spoken and discern truth from error.

Hear the observation and exhortation of Job 34:3-4:  "For the ear tests words as the palate tastes food. ⁴ Let us choose justice for ourselves; let us know among ourselves what is good."  Because the Holy Spirit is good, guides us into all truth and dwells within us, we can go beyond catering to our preferences or our personal bias and open our mouths wide, trusting God to fill us and supply all our needs with His truth.  God and His word do not change, and spiritual maturity correlates with familiarity with God's wisdom and putting it in into practice.  At the same time, it is said there are no "adults" of God--only children of God.  This reminds us of our need for God, His protection and provision, to rely upon Jesus for our physical and spiritual bread He is faithful to supply.