Potato Chips.
January 3rd, 2007
I opened a bag of potato chips the other day. Not just any potato chip, but original kettle cooked recipe. Oh, those are so good — and crunchy.
Have you ever noticed how when you open up a bag of potato chips there is an incredible fresh bag smell? It only lasts a few seconds, and then its gone. But wow, it smells so fresh right then.
Then when you come back the next day, even if you rolled up the bag, it won’t be as fresh as it was the day before. Every day after the bag is opened it gets more and more stale.
That’s what religion does to a Christian. Remember when you asked God into your life? It was fresh and exciting. But as time goes on, we often forget that our Christianity isn’t about religion but its about our relationship. This mis-directed thought pattern is the cause of many religiously transmitted diseases.
This is a plug for Ed Gungor’s book, “Religiously Transmitted Diseases.” This book discusses many incorrect thought patterns that have somehow infiltrated the church, alot more than I had expected. This book has significantly changed my life, and I encourage any Christian to read it. Check it out.
January 3rd, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Good analogy, Adam. Did that come to you before or after you were crunching in my ear?
January 4th, 2007 at 4:26 am
I’m going to second this plug…great book! It’s incredibly enjoyable to read and it really opens your eyes to the stale spots in your own life…staleness that, in many cases, you don’t even realize is there.
But, remember, it’s not the Bible. I know of several people who have read books that have profound or apparently new thinking, and they almost replace the Bible with the book.
January 5th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Dude, that’s so perfect! Nice job!
January 16th, 2007 at 11:20 am
@adam- finally decided to take the plunge & read all these blog’s everyone is talking about lately! whew what an experience! anyway, i think if you ask a lot of recently wed couples, they can understand this very ell. a new relationship starts with oh i like him, he likes me, then it moves progressively into deeper degrees of affection resulting in love, committment for a life time. that sounds so awesome to say, i am committed to you for life! now ask some of the ones married 10 yrs or longer. life & the forever becomes daily, one after another, day by day & often what started out so awesome has lost some of the excitement , the verve, we begin to become dulled in our affections, life takes it’s toll on us. but if we approach each day with an attitude of it’s a new day full of the freshness of a loving & merciful God, it gives us not the new bag smell but a smell of hope, encouragement to continue on in this daily relationship.(this is how some of the great marriages became great. they saw Jesus, met with Him daily)