Pad Thai
READ
Have you ever been given an amazing gift that you didn't even know you needed? Sometimes a loved one knows us so well that they can see what will light up our souls, even before we can see it ourselves. That's how Paul describes the gift of reconciling with God in 2 Corinthians 5. It's not something we earn or gain through penance — it's a gift from a God who loves to celebrate when we are no longer separated from Him.
Take a moment to read 2 Corinthians 5:17-18:
Therefore, anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old life is gone and a new life has begun. This transformation is a gift from God, who reconciled believers to Himself through Jesus Christ and entrusted them with the ministry of reconciliation.
REFLECT
Imagine an eight-year-old boy who is a picky eater. He goes to restaurants with his family and orders the same mediocre chicken strips from every kids' menu in town. When they go out, he's grumpy. He's still hungry later. He turns up his nose. He's bored. His mom knows him, though. She understands his heart — and his stomach — like no one else. She suggests Thai food over and over, knowing he will love it.
He says absolutely not.
Eventually, his mom gets him to try what she knows will capture him: Pad Thai. He opens his mouth suspiciously, one eye closed. The tip of his tongue makes cautious contact. He nods slowly as an explosion of flavors dances across his palate. Suddenly, his whole face lights up. Is this Thai food? This is what you've been suggesting the whole time?! I had no idea!
A year later, his whole culinary world has shifted. He lives for dinner dates with his mom at new Asian restaurants. She watches him come alive with curiosity — experiencing deep satisfaction in discovering new flavors and falling madly in love with the pure joy of a good chili crisp. He is no longer the little boy sulking in the corner of the restaurant booth. He is deeply, limitlessly alive in an experience he didn't even know existed. And his mom isn't angry that it took him so long to try it. She delights in the fullness he now experiences — with her, in tasty community.
To be clear, the gospel of Jesus is not simply offering us the perfect chili crisp. The freedom, joy, wonder, lightness, excitement, passion, and fullness offered by God's forgiveness of sin far outshine even the tastiest of foreign cuisines. He understands our hearts. He designed what will light up our world in ways we could never dream. So going along with His plans — and turning away from plans that are not His — leads us to the joy of reconciliation. Not only are we free to live life more lightly and abundantly; we ourselves are made new! Our old ways, our old selves, are gone.
This is living in the kingdom of God. This is the gospel message of confession, reconciliation, and community with our Father. We release our sin and confess that He knows better, because it leads to an abundant life with Him. And He's not angry at how long it took us to try it His way. He's not annoyed that we convinced ourselves our own ways were better. He delights in the fullness of who we are now with Him and in the kingdom life He gets to offer us.
RESPOND
Take a moment to process what God might be leading you to do in light of what you've read.
Think about a sin in your own life that you have confessed to God and allowed Him to reconcile. How did bringing that sin into the light lead to a more abundant life for you?
If you've never confessed a sin to God, or if there is something you've been hesitant to confess lately, what's holding you back?
Is there an area of your life where you are choosing "bland food" over "extraordinary food?" In other words, is there a way in which you aren't living life to the fullest with God because of unconfessed sin?
REST
Take a moment to rest in God's presence and consider one thing you can take away from your time of reading, then close your devotional experience by praying:
Father, I admit that You know me best. You alone created my life, and You know what makes me most alive. I confess that my ways are broken and don't always lead to the most abundant life with You. I want community with You more than anything. Will You show me areas of my life that need to change to be more in line with the life You have for me? Will You help me release the sins I hold onto when I think I know better? Thank You for Your forgiveness and for the way You walk with me despite my sin. Thank You for the salvation won on the cross that reconciles me to You. Amen.
Port City writer Tara Adams wrote today's devotional.