Sweetly Broken

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives. Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity."

John 12:24-25 (NLT)


Don't you wish life was like the birth of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup? You might not remember the television commercial decades ago where two total strangers were walking down a busy sidewalk somewhere in America when suddenly they bumped into one another while they were enjoying their favorite snack. As they collided and their opened in hand snacks collided, each exclaimed what they believed what the other had done, "You got your chocolate on my peanut butter" or the immediate opposite response was, "You got your peanut butter on my chocolate." The world has been left wondering ever since who was ultimately responsible for the birth of this delicious candy that millions would say taste way better when sweetly broken (mixed) together than they ever could have been had they remained apart.

What is true about a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is true about me and you too! We are way better together than we could ever be apart. At least that's the way God sees it and what His Word declares. In 1 Corinthians 12 we read, 1 Corinthians 12:12, "For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ." One of the great joys in this life is when we "seemingly" bump into others lives, and then together we each discover something delightful; we were meant for each other and as well we are better together than we ever were apart. The Bible beautifully illustrates this point of our need to be connected as it refers to those who belong to God as, "The body of Christ", "The family of God" and "Living stones".

Story after story our Bible's are filled with inspiring examples of God's plan for mankind being fulfilled as He brings people together for a purpose greater than anything we could ever know on our own. Take the gift of marriage for example. In the book of Genesis we read that when a man and woman are joined together in marriage something beautiful and mysterious happens, "And the two shall become one." The book of Ecclesiastes describes the benefits of friendship and how life is made more meaningful when it is shared with someone else, "Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

There is no greater example of how God goes about bringing us together than the Cross of Christ. The more we read our bible, the more we come to know that to truly become one we must first be broken in two as it were. Humility precedes honor and death comes before glorification. Philippians 2:5-8 gives us something to think about as the apostle Paul writes, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." Our ability to experience oneness was made possible when Jesus gave Himself on Calvary's Cross where He was broken for us with the hope that we might become one in Him.

Ephesians 2:13-19 reveals for us the price Jesus paid to bring us together and the benefits we can enjoy as we too are broken into one, "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God"

Do you want to get the most out of life? I believe you do. Let God lead you to others today and enjoy the fullness of life that comes through sharing life together. Be willing as it were to get peanut butter on your chocolate, or was it, chocolate on your peanut butter? Either way, if you and I will allow God to lead us to these "Divine Appointments" and we are open to God knitting us together in His love, the end result will something far more sweeter than we could ever enjoy by our going it alone.

"I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are."

John 17:9-11


I LOVE YOU!

     










Michael Osthimer

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