August 9, 2025 Devo

My wife is weird. She says she’s “picky.” I say “weird.” You be the judge. She doesn’t like things that are sweet. So most kinds of candy are out, except Skittles and Peanut M&M’s. She doesn’t like most kinds of meat. She won’t eat thick steaks, thick hamburgers, and she despises ham. She likes Mexican food if it’s really, really mild. That’s like saying you like ice cream if it’s really, really warm. Yuck. She doesn’t like any kind of soda or coffee and can’t stand the smell of a Starbucks. Are you ready for this? She doesn’t like CHOCOLATE. What human, created in the image of God, doesn’t like chocolate?! Like I said, she’s weird. Or perhaps, alien. I’m just sayin’.
All of that to say she’ll rarely open her mouth when I say, “Try this.” She’s ninety-nine percent sure she won’t like it. So she keeps her lips tightly closed and misses out on what most of us live for. Her certainty that she won’t like something or fear I’ll trick her into trying something that will burn her mouth robs her of incredible tastes. At night she nibbles on her cheese and crackers, while I’m enjoying my elk jerky or nachos supreme with a chocolate fudge chaser. Sure, she’ll live longer. But my taste buds will die HAPPY!
Some of us are like Wanda when it comes to God. We “taste” a bit of God, but we don’t open our mouths wide to Him. Some of us invite Him just far enough into our lives to get a sampling of His Goodness, but not enough to explore all God has to offer. Do you know how much of your life God wants to impact? ALL OF IT! Every. Single. Bit. Some of us avoid letting God into our jobs because we’re afraid He’ll have us handing out religious tracts to our fellow workers or something strange like that. Some of us keep Him out of our relationships because we’re afraid He’ll start messing things up or make US change when we all know it’s NOT us who needs to change! Some of us just try enough of God to feel as if we’re “good” people. Some of us hold God at arm’s distance because we’re afraid that if we open our whole life to Him, we’ll be miserable. But it’s the exact opposite. God wants our lives to be filled with all the Goodness and Glory that are His. He wants us to be the most successful workers. He wants our lives and relationships to be filled with a richness, joy, and closeness like we’ve never known.
There is SO MUCH of God, and many of us are only trying a little of Him. Stop being weird. Don’t settle for safe and bland when you can have Joy and Wonder. Open your mouth wide to God. Open your heart wide to God. Tell Him you want to taste all He has to offer. Life’s too short to settle for religious cheese and crackers when God’s got a whole box of spiritual chocolates for you to try. Open your mouth and get ready. There’s a whole world of wonder God wants the taste buds of your life to explore! That’s God’s Word for you today.