Moments for the Heart

Imagine you are at a five-star restaurant and ordering your favorite cut of steak. Is it a sirloin? Ribeye? Ahh, porterhouse? Everyone enjoys a good steak. Well, nearly everyone. I do realize I do have followers who choose not to partake in eating meat, and I respect that choice in your life. So, I mean no disrespect to you when I talk about my love for a good piece of meat. Now, for those of us who do choose to eat meat, we understand the sight and smell of our favorite cut on the grill or when it is brought out to us at a restaurant. It is even better when the chef knows what they are doing, and all you have to do is cut into it and eat it.

Settling For Less Than the Best

So, what happens when you get a cheaper cut of meat? Okay, true, a good chef can take even a poor cut of meat and make it pass the muster, but even then, it is still an inferior product. Eat enough of them, and you become accustomed to it, but then you learn to settle for less than the best. And, of course, when you finally taste the real deal, it blows your mind that you had settled for the alternative for so long.

A Cut Above the Others

Would you believe I have heard people try and tell me about a good place to eat a steak based on the “so-I’ve-heard” recommendation? While second-hand reviews help, how can you truly recommend somewhere if you have never been there? There is a steak house chain, Ruth’s Chris. They are labeled as one of the best steak houses in the nation. And I can tell you, they have a fabulous ribeye. I know this not because someone told me about their experience of tasting one of their $75 steaks. My wife and I know because we celebrated an anniversary there. We have the depleted bank account as evidence.

The Steak Alternative

There is another experience you must live to fully be able to explain the truth of. And much like the steak, some alternatives try to take its place. Many fall for them, thinking they will be satisfied by the lesser things, but there is nothing like the true experience of a touch from God. There are flavors and other stuff that people try to fill in what they think is the real thing, but it by far lacks authenticity. Then they try and lecture about what they feel that experience should be. But how can one talk about something they haven’t lived or experienced firsthand? Word of mouth does not cut it when it comes to an experience with Jesus Christ.

Just Say AHH

So how do we convey our experiences? Words can only go so far. As a novel writer, I have been told that the words I use capture the imagination and draw the reader into the book they are reading. I consider that an honor. Yet, even if I give a reader a word-for-word account of me getting my tooth pulled, unless you’ve shared the experience of sitting in that chair with the dentist wiggling your numbed tooth with their pliers, you cannot fully relate. And if you explained to me when you broke your leg, I cannot relate to you because I have never been through that ordeal. I can sympathize, but I could never empathize. That is how it is when we try to share an experience with Jesus. If you have had an encounter with Him, you understand. If you have yet to, then you would find it difficult to explain the feeling of that part of your life being touched.

Taste and See

In order to learn what a broken limb feels like you need to fall and break one. In order to understand the discomfort of the numb-tingling wiggle of a dental procedure, you must have an aching tooth. In order to experience the life-changing touch of Jesus on your life, you need to go through the process of giving Him your life, allowing Him to change you from the inside out. But what does that mean, ‘give Him your life’? It simply means that you realize you cannot do this on your own and need Him to guide you. When you choose to do this, you can taste and see that God is good. You will experience that your life will change, maybe not overnight, but always for the better.

Photo by Loija Nguyen on Unsplash