So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. 1 Peter 1:6-7, NLT
Every winter I stock up on Candy Canes because I love to stir my coffee, tea and hot cocoa with them. Then of course I get to enjoy eating them up to the hook and then I let that melt in the drink. It just adds a little zip to whatever I’m drinking that night to end the day and think about all the good things that happened that day and thank God.
I usually get the Giant brand because they’re only $1.25 a box. But this year before I got a chance to go to Giant, I picked up some Brach’s. I was so excited to stir a cup of coffee with one of them. Everything was as usual, until I went to bite a piece off when I realized there was nothing to eat, it had completely melted! But all was not lost, it did make the coffee minty sweet.
That night, I found a few my cousin had given me in the pantry. I’m not sure what brand they were, but they were explosive, to say the least. Literally, when I pulled it out of my Chocolate Mint Tea I heard a crack and next thing I knew, there was candy cane all over the place. On my cabinets, the floor, my pajamas, even in my hair, which I even found more the next morning. Which means, yeh, I slpet with candy cane in my hair. So I cleaned things up and although I did enjoy my tea, I decided I needed to get to Giant. Their candy canes melted slowly because they were twisted and the red went all the way through and I actually would get to enjoy the candy cane itself. I went and I bought 8 boxes!
Now, you may be thinking what does this have to do with a devotion. Well, the various candy canes reminded me that Believers can be a lot like them. They all looked the same on the outside, but when they were put under heat, they all performed differently. The first ones just melted away from the heat, just like some people. They praise God talk about how awesome He is, until they meet with a crisis and their faith melts away. Then there’s the explosive ones, they blame God for what’s happening and don’t have a problem letting everyone know how God let them down, again.
Then there are the ones that are twisted togther (which reminded me of Ecclesiastes 4:12, a three cord strand is not easily broken) that are strong and take a long time to begin to melt, and no matter how long they’re in the heat, there is always some remaining. These are the Believers who endure and persevere no matter what the circumstance, they hang in there. They serve their purpose well.
So which kind of Candy Cane Christian are you when the heat in life gets turned up? Do you melt, explode or hang in there until you complete God’s purpose? Remember God’s mercies are new every morning and it’s never too late to strengthen your trust in Jesus. Then taste and see that the Lord is good! Ps, 34:8.
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