Sweeter than Jam!

I married a man who loves his jam!  He stops at every roadside market that promises homemade jams and jellies.  He lives for local flavor and uses his smart phone as a food tracking device, finding the best of the local cooks and restaurants.  So....when someone gave Wayne two jars of homemade jam today, he was in his own personal heaven!

We were dinner guests in the home of a young family.  This lady is a wonderful cook.  I knew it immediately when I walked in and was greeted by the delightful smells coming from the kitchen.  She had a colorful display of crudites, dips and hummus, a beautiful salad and a fragrant ravioli soup.  Heaven, indeed!  As we were leaving, she brought out the piece de resistance!  Peach jam and blueberry-peach jam!  Oh, my!  The colors were extravagant!  And her husband raved about the flavors.  My only problem?  We are in a hotel room and don't have any bread, buns or crumpets!  What's a girl to do?

So, here I am thinking about jam.  We didn't make jam too often growing up, but we did it every now and then.  Do you know what I remember?  Underipe fruit doesn't make good jam.  Just ripe fruit makes good jam. But fruit that is overripe and just about to turn rotten makes the absolute best jam of all!  This is a good lesson.  In my life, I have seen people that I would categorize as nearly rotten!  You know the ones.  Those who gather spiritual flies, as it were.  The ones that we think are almost too far gone for us to bother with.  Those are the ones that we are more inclined to let fall by the way...to rot and be forgotten.  But the truth is that these are the people who need Jesus the most.  When they find Him, they are so grateful.  They know the rotten state they've been in, and they appreciate the work of grace in their lives.  The result is, oh, so sweet!

Romans 5:8 tells us that "God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."  You know, God Himself knows our rottenness!  He's fully aware of the foul state of our sinful lives, yet, He determined to come in the form of Jesus to purchase our pardon.  He didn't come for the perfect, unscarred fruit.  He came for those of us who are bruised and rotten.  He came for me.  He came for you.  He came specifically to turn our decaying lives into the sweet product of His wondrous love!

I cannot wait to get back home to my own kitchen!  I am eager to try this new jam.  I'm actually considering hiding it from Wayne before he just gets a spoon out and starts eating it!  Meanwhile, I'm just so very happy to be reminded of the pleasant flavor that the Lord is able to extract from my own nearly rotten life!