January 9 2012

The Cookie Jar
 
Reading: Colossians 4:6, 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
John 13:35 – “35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Men, I have a confession, I use to sneak a lot of cookies after coming home from school when I was a kid. I know and understand now why mother’s wisely put cookies in a glass cookie jar… because it is very difficult to get a cookie without someone knowing about it. Over time, though, I mastered the art of opening our glass cookie jar. I would have to, first, gently wrap my fingers around the glass knob on top of the lid… and without moving it at all side to side… quickly lift the lid straight up as fast as I could. Aaaaahhhh… no sound… now, nothing is in my way of the fresh homemade chocolate chip cookies. Then, the task of putting the lid back down on the glass jar. I would put my fingers on either side, between the jar and the lid, and slowly let the skin of my fingers slide out while holding the side of the jar to deaden the sound. Once again, a cookie nab without getting caught. Now, I went through all of that not to teach you how to steal cookies. Rather, how much of all that effort do you think that I would go through if there weren’t chocolate chips in those cookies or, if I got into the jar and realized that my mom had put carrots or broccoli in it? Yeah… I would not be telling you of my mastery of breaking into the jar. Men, if there is no sweetness in our churches, if there’s no sweetness coming from our mouths as Christians, how do we expect the world to want to come to church or want what we have? What Paul and Jesus are saying in these passages is… we should actually be mostly chocolate chips with a splash of cookie. Let’s practice today being FULL of grace with some salt seasoning. By the way, the salt of the truth is essential. It’s the perfect blend of cookie and chocolate.

How can you prepare yourself to be full of grace today? (if you wait until a situation, it is too difficult to be ready to give grace, prepare ahead of time)

Love is infectious, how can you demonstrate love to one of your brothers today?

End of the Day Review
  
Were you able to be full of grace today, with some salt seasoning, if so, how were you able to demonstrate that?
 
 
What results were you able to see, if not in others, possibly in yourself?