(Genuine and Delicious at the same time)
I love Chocolate Chip Cookies.
I love Cold Milk.
And I love chocolate cookies and cold milk together.
No, I take that back.
I absolutely “adore”…
(a word just short of short of worship, because that would be the sin of idolatry)
I adore chocolate cookies and cold milk together.
It is written on the Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie Bag;
“Not until 1970, when Wally Amos started to bake his secret recipe, has any chocolate chip cookie been so thoroughly authentic and delicious at the same time,”
But right below that, the ingredient list says;
Enriched Bleached Flour,
Chocolate Chips,
Margarine
(partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil),
White and Brown Sugar,
Pecans,
Eggs,
Coconut,
Vanilla Extract,
Baking Soda,
Salt,
Water.
Those cookies are delicious for sure.
And expensive too.
Untrue rumors have been around for years that the
secret ingredient was the expensive drug – Hashish.
Though they are delicious,
they do not look like what is pictured on the bag.
Like with many products,
marketing has pictured what appears to be an entirely different product than what you find inside the packaging.
The Famous Amos label shows the nuts and
chocolate chips perfectly arranged
and glistening with butterfat.
But the real cookies are little lumpy clumps.
They are kind of hard and very dry.
(a second reason that I love cold milk with them)
The nuts and chocolate chips are mostly buried and
hidden in the dough of the cookie,
Not at all like the picture on the bag.
But that is OK by me, because they are delicious.
And it is OK by Famous Amos, because there is a
disclaimer on the label that says;
“Enclosed Cookies are smaller, and their surface
appearance is different from the illustration.”
That reminds me of what the Bible says
about people and authenticity.
God wants us to be genuine and real.
(no hypocrisy)
And if we do not like how we appear
It’s OK by us that we appear polished and
well balanced on our outside packaging,
But it’s not OK by God.
He knows that we are not perfectly polished, etc.
But he would much rather have us work on
becoming a better version of ourself,
reflecting the humble and genuine life of Jesus,
than trying to appear delicious to others.
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“In the same way, on the outside you APPEAR to
people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
-Matthew 23:28
Let’s make every effort to allow the genuine love
of Jesus and His righteousness
(that is in us)
to come out of us and APPEAR to others the way
that God wants us to appear.
That is what I call,
“Being Jesus to others”
But we can only do that by;
“Allowing Jesus to be Jesus to us.”
And He is always available to us and for us.
Prayer:
Thank you, Lord, for accepting us as imperfect.
Thank you that you want to help us to become more
like you in righteousness and innocence.
We know that you do not desire us all to be
FAMOUS AMOS,
Or FAMOUS INSERT YOUR NAME.
You just want us to be “us.”
Thank you for that.
In Jesus’ name.
Amen!
God bless you… Pastor Dave
PS. As a reminder, we will contact you by email and/or phone when we will resume worship on campus.
Word of Life Church
17525 W. Bell Rd.
Surprise, AZ 85374