The Bible and Yogurt (Guest Post)

This is a guest post by one of my wonderful girls (and friends) from UNC. Meredith is great - artistic, loving, creative, real. I do miss her. Maybe since her family now lives in the same city as me, I will get to see her more and maybe enjoy a breakfast or two together! I do have some pictures of us together, but I think this picture captured of who Meredith is: her love of cold weather (she used to live in CO), her love of outdoors, and her fun hair that I've always loved!

I hope that those of you reading this will be encouraged tonight. For me, this evening was one of those times when I was so tired from my day that after reading chapter 1 of Ephesians, I couldn't even remember what I had read.

I am a perfectionist, and therefore, I expect my devotions to be perfect; meaning I will have life-altering mountaintop revelational moments daily. But then I have nights like tonight, when I don't feel anything except how my eyelids are trying to close.

I was brushing my teeth feeling discouraged (that's one feeling I know well as a perfectionist!), when I remembered Hebrews 4:12 - "the word of God is living and active."

And here is where yogurt comes in. Yes, this is an analogy comparing the Bible to yogurt. As weird as it sounds, though, God has truly encouraged me with this! You know how you can buy yogurt with "live active yogurt cultures" in it? Well, often when I'm eating yogurt in which there are actually living organisms such as Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, I think about how these little organisms are running around inside me, doing good stuff that I can't feel!

I think it's the same with God's word; regardless of what we feel, His Word is living in us; it is at work. Reading the Bible is analagous to ingesting live active yogurt cultures in a sense; perhaps it seems as mundane as eating Yoplait one day, or even most days. Perhaps it seems we haven't achieved anything meaningful in our devotions. But we have - Hebrews 4:12 tells us we have.

I trust the seal of the National Yogurt Association that tells me Lacto and Strepto are diddling around in my tummy. (Did you even know there was such a thing as the National Yogurt Association!?) So, do I trust that I have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and that this seal assures me Christ will complete the work he started in me? And He will do this regardless of how "well" I read my Bible tonight. He will do this regardless of and because of the physical and mental limitations of being a human.

I'm going to bed encouraged tonight, and I hope that you are, too, especially if you share this frustration. And in closing, the major flaw in my analogy is that yogurt cultures are potentially beneficial, but the word of God always is.

Thank you Meredith. Enjoy your live active cultures!