THERE'S NOTHING SWEETER
Ephesians 5:8
"At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light."
The beginning of spring is a messy time. There is generally mud everywhere as snows melt and rains begin. It's a time of hope and disappointment when one warm sunny day lifts you and the next day is cold and windy, lowering your expectations.
But there is one sure, sweet thing about spring and it flows each year right from the trees... maple syrup. I've got some fond and some not so fond memories of making maple syrup. If you've never done it you're missing out on a great experience; a great, exhausting, cold, wet tiring experience. But there is a sweet reward in the end.
Most people have never actually tasted pure maple syrup. You may have thought you were tasting it when you read a label and saw, "contains pure maple syrup" but by law that product only needs to have 2% pure maple syrup in it. If you've had pure maple syrup, you'll most likely never go back to off the shelf maple flavored syrup.
Each spring as the days warm and the nights remain cold the sap begins flowing through maple trees like blood through our veins. The first runs of the spring contain the highest concentrations of sugar and make the most mellow and sweetest syrup of the year. As the season goes on the sap becomes cloudier and a little more bitter. By the time the buds start arriving on the trees the syrup is a lot stronger in taste and sometimes even a little bitter when finished. It's this syrup that is sold just so other products can claim to contain "pure maple syrup".
The life of a spring syrup season is very similar to many Christian life walks. The faith and joy of a new member into the life of Jesus Christ is sweet and joyful and many times as times goes on, the walk starts to move away from the Lord a little at a time and things become a little more bitter.
What happens is many begin to mix in other things to the pureness of we have in Christ. They are no longer just living in the pureness of Christ; they've lost the joy and sweetness that came from our early relationship with Him.
The apostle Paul laid it out clearly in Romans 12:1. Paul wrote,
"I appeal to you by the mercies of God to present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
We all occasionally allow little pieces of worldly things to get mixed in to our lives that create an impure product. We allow lust, jealousy, covetousness, greed and other sins a foothold and soon the original sweetness is gone. We've begun again to conform to the "things of this world"
In Revelation 2:4 John wrote the words of the Lord to the Church Ephesus
"But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.". Revelation 2:4
That church had walked away from their first love and confirmed to the world again. Have you mixed in worldly impurities to the sweet, pure life that was given to you in Christ? It's not too late to make it right. Turn back and remove the things that you've added to your life that are not of God. Come back to the sweet pure relationship that you were meant to have with Him.
There's nothing sweeter.
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