Drinkin' Salsa

Summertime brings with it a few certainties.  Sunshine, heat, more heat, swimming pools, watermelon, and our garden.  And every year, my husband asks for fresh homemade salsa from our garden veggies.  So, I obliged and made him a giant bowl of salsa last week.   And it was good!  Please don't think I'm tooting my own horn here, but all of those sweet/tangy tomatoes, peppers, onions...there's no way it could have been bad.  Anyways, Logan saw the salsa and asked for his own bowl and some chips to dip.  Again, I obliged, and Logan set forth on his mission to devour the chips and salsa.  A few minutes later, he came back and asked for more salsa.  I filled his bowl but noticed that he still had lots of chips.  When I looked back over, Logan wasn't bothering to dip his chips, he was just drinking the salsa!  It was too cute, and sure made his daddy proud! 

After I finished laughing at my little man, I got to thinking.   You know, there were some pretty hot peppers in that salsa.  I even warned him that the green peppers might be too hot for him to eat.  Maybe it would be best if he didn't eat those.  He may have followed my advice for a few minutes, but his worry was soon overtaken by the goodness of the salsa. And despite the risk, he just couldn't get enough.  Green peppers and all. 

As Christians, why don't we drink Jesus in like Logan drank his salsa?  Why is it that we are often perfectly content to dip our chips.  Of course we need a little Jesus to get to heaven, but let's not get carried away, right?  I mean, what about those green peppers?  We want our Jesus in small manageable doses.  We're so scared of losing control that we miss the full goodness of his love and service.  We speak of faith, but won't eat the green peppers.  We work hard to appear righteous, so we take a dip in Jesus.  Never giving up control, never fully trusting.  The salsa still tastes pretty good, but we're not truly experiencing all of the flavors.  We may even tell others about this great tasting salsa.  But, just like I warned Logan about the pepers, sometimes we hurt our witness by limiting God's love.  I don't think we do it consciously, but  it happens just the same. 

So what do we do then?  Drink up.  Stop worrying about burning our mouths on the peppers.  Isn't that where the flavor comes from anyways?  When we give up this false sense of control, we learn what it means to live in the love of Christ.  And when we drink Him in, others see Him in us.  Not merely in our empty words, but in our lives.  They see him in our actions, in our gestures, in our words(though often not intentionally), and in our love for those who need.  When we drink him in, there is joy, peace, and harmony.  When we drink Him in, there are no limits or fear, just complete goodness.  And, I'm so thankful that no matter how much I consume, I'll never run out, and never stop wanting more.  So, fill 'er up!  It's good I promise!