Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Psalm 34:8 NIV

Red hair framed my five-year-old granddaughter’s sweet, lightly freckled face as she scrunched up her nose and shyly, softly responded to her dad’s prompt.

“I love Jesus because he will make me alive again.”

Joy welled up in my heart. I leaned toward her and whispered, “That’s right, and Jesus is better than anything, even a cupcake!” Wide, disbelieving eyes looked back at me. Giggling she mockingly said, “Better than a cupcake, G-ma?”  To this little heart, nothing was better than anything sweet!

“Yes!” I replied, “and maybe when you get to heaven, you will live in a cupcake house!”

Do we believe Jesus is sweeter, better than our favourite thing, our greatest desire?

I say he is but do my actions speak that in my day-to-day life? When what I want conflicts with what is happening in my life or where Christ is asking me to go, is my first thought, feeling, or inclination that following Jesus is the best, as good as or better than what I desire?

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Psalm 119:103 NIV

If I am honest, the answer is more often no. I believe He is in my mind and soul, but in the heat of the moment, my first thought and instinct is of self and being in control. I want things to be easy and smooth, to go the way I had planned or wanted, making life sweet for ME.

However, my interpretation of life is not what is best for everyone or what would most glorify God. It isn’t even what is best for me. My vision is limited. I can only see what is at my level of wisdom and experience. If we think about it, we can’t even see the treetops as we go about our little lives or the minute details below us without aids. We don’t even notice them most of the time, because our vision is self-focused.

But the Lord invites us to taste and see that He is the sweetest thing we could ever desire, more than honey or cupcakes! He is good, and He is our refuge, and when we turn to Him and His ways, we will receive blessings beyond what we are able to see or imagine.

This promise is not just for this present time, though. If we believe with all our heart, mind, soul and strength that Jesus is Lord, He has promised to make us alive again with Him.

What is our vision of eternity with Him? When did we stop dreaming and imagining the impossible with God? Is our view of Christ life-sized or Red Sea dividing size? Do we only believe in God or actually believe God?

I confess, that I often limit God and forget He is far more powerful and majestic than my feeble idea of Him, which is why I love the vision the apostle John had in Revelation 1: 9-18. Look it up and read it slowly and thoughtfully with your full imagination. John saw the Lord in His full glory, majesty and power and fell down like a dead man in fear. But then our compassionate, merciful Lord gently touched John’s shoulder and said, “Do not be afraid.”

John tasted and saw, Peter tasted and saw, Moses tasted and saw, and they learned that Jesus was the sweetest and best way to live, die and live again.

Life is not just about here and now or even tomorrow. We are all immortal beings and will go on after this mortal existence, but what we choose now will impact how that immortality will be. Abundant life with God, or misery and supreme loneliness without God. Sweet or bitter.

If you have never tasted and seen that Jesus is sweeter than a cupcake, I encourage you to seek Him out today. If you know the sweetness of life with Christ, let us encourage one another to stop and choose His way every day, every hour, ideally every minute so we can have abundant life here and look forward to a cupcake life in the next.

Dream big, Sisters! Let your little girl imaginations soar about life with God here and in eternity. Painting masterpieces, cottages by a beach, mansions of glory, singing with beautiful voices, caring for wildlife or even living in a cupcake palace, God has something for you that will taste better than a cupcake in your mouth.

Be well!

Patricia