Picture by Caprice
Miller
There is something so nostalgic about
these globe-like dispensers. When you
would see one as a kid you immediately began the begging and bargaining routine
with you parents – “Can I have a quarter?
PLEASE, PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE?!?!?!?!?”
And if they didn’t have one you would probably start in on various
nearby strangers hoping that they couldn’t resist that sweet, innocent
face. Hopefully, they would have what you
needed to get what you wanted so you wouldn’t have to go to plan B or C and begin
tapping in to a life of crime just to find that stinking quarter so you could
get that piece of gum.
Consider how these dispensers
have changed over the years in order to attract kids to drop a quarter in. it seems to be more about the machine than
what’s inside. The “maze” machines are
the best. When you drop your quarter in
you get to watch as the ball of sweetness rolls all the way down to the little
trap door. And as depicted in the
picture above, just the vast array of choices can put a kid into sensory
overload. Now it’s not just one quarter
they need, it’s a roll of quarters. And if
you notice the one in the middle of the bottom row, it seems to be empty. That immediately makes you feel slightly
disappointed because there was obviously something in that one that everyone
else wanted too. Now it’s gone. Makes you feel a little sad if you think
about it really hard……but never mind that when you have so many other ways to
try to satisfy that sweet tooth!
The crazy thing is that these
sweets are all created in very similar manners.
If you have ever watched one of those shows about how these things are
made you will see there are key ingredients mixed together and then eventually
they are added to a giant tumbler where artificial colors and flavors are
added. They all taste pretty much the
same depending on the level of sweet and sour you want. And the gum very quickly loses its flavor and
becomes hard to chew. You then are left
with a need for something to get that taste out of your mouth wondering if it
was worth the trouble to drop that quarter and thinking a picture really would
have lasted longer.
It’s interesting how we are
designed with a desire to be satisfied in some way. Maybe it’s just a sweet tooth at the
moment. But ultimately we have an innate
desire to find that “thing” to complete us.
Somehow we instinctively realize there is more to life than what meets
the eye. Similar to the picture above, we find all
sorts of things that seem like it will do the trick. Money,
relationships, drugs, shopping anything that could fill the void – at least
temporarily. Eventually we begin
searching deeper and searching for that “true meaning of life”. There are all sorts of avenues the world offers. How could any be wrong really? Each avenue seems to say that by doing “this,
that and the other” you will earn that thing to fill that missing piece
inside. Eventually, you will be good
enough to attain your goal of completeness.
Choices, choices, choices…..what
to do? And then there is this guy, “Jesus”,
so many seem to talk about. What’s the
difference between His way and everyone else?
As the verse above states, Jesus tells us in the Bible that He is the
path to our Creator. Not A path…..THE
path. He can claim this because He is
the one and only Son Of God. He lived a
perfect life, died a sinless death and then defeated death through His
resurrection. He alone fulfills a
multitude of prophecies in the Bible. It
is overwhelming the evidence we have to prove that He is the Messiah, our
Savior, The way, the truth and the life.
And the most amazing thing is that we don’t have to try to live the
perfect life ourselves to have Him in our lives. He already did that for us. That’s what His life was about. He lived, died and rose again so that we
could have a chance to live an eternity in Heaven…to be with our Creator. But how do we do this? Well, you don’t have to have quarter to drop,
thank goodness. A life that has Jesus can simply begin with
this simple prayer:
“Dear God, I admit that I am not perfect,
that I have sinned and that I have messed up from time to time. I believe that
Jesus died on the cross for my sins and that God raised Him from the dead. I
choose to follow You, Jesus, and I confess that You are my savior. Thank you,
Jesus, for saving me. I love You. Amen.”
It really is that simple. There is
something interesting that happens when you ask Jesus to fill that void in your
life. While this prayer is the
simplicity of it, there is a work that He will begin on the inside of you. He will change you from the inside out
continuing to help you become the person you were created to be and to be able
to have an eternity in Heaven. You will
realize that the more you learn about Him, the more you want to share. And now it’s up to you to make the choice.
Don’t be distracted by the artificial choices the world offers that so
quickly lose their flavor and lead nowhere.
Make the lasting choice of asking Jesus into your life and see how He
satisfies.
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