A TOTALITARIAN DEMAND

July 7

Taste and see that the LORD is good. Psalm 34:8

Christianity is a way of life. And it is a way of life that demands a total commitment; it is, if you like, a totalitarian demand. It does not merely ask that we consider it and say, “Oh yes, I can take on that teaching; that’s a good emphasis there, I’ll add that!” No; it is not something to be applied as we think and when and where. Jesus says, “Seek ye first.”

In other words, let me put it like this: Men and women will never know the truth of Christianity or the blessings that it can give until they have given themselves to it. You can examine Christianity from the outside, but you will never know it, you will never get it. “If any man will do his will,” says our Lord, “he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God” (John 7:17).

Here is a great fundamental principle about this way of life: “Taste and see that the LORD is good” (Psalm 34:8). You will never know that the Lord is good until you have tasted Him, until you have tried Him. So many of us are like a man standing in an orchard, and there he looks at an apple tree or a pear tree, and he examines it at a distance. Somebody says, “You know, that has a most wonderful flavour. If only you would try it, you would say that it is the most wonderful fruit you’ve ever tasted in your life.” But the man looks on, and he is not quite satisfied; he is not convinced, and he can argue and stay there for as long as he likes, but he will never know the fruit until he takes it and puts it in his mouth and bites it and proves it. “Taste and see that the LORD is good.”

A theoretical examination of Christianity will never bring us anywhere. Our Lord always calls for a committal.

A THOUGHT TO PONDER 

Christianity is a way of life that demands a total commitment.

WALKING WITH GOD DAY BY DAY ~ Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones