Losing Flavor

Even as I write, I'm sitting in a hotel room fighting a nasty little bronchial infection.  This is not my brightest moment.  Sickness is no friend of mine.  In fact, I have only rarely been acquainted with its presence, and I'm surely not going to start welcoming this yucky intruder today.

Most people, when they are sick, seem to lose their appetites.  Not me.  I'm probably the only person on the planet who can have the flu for ten whole days and come out on the other side a full five pounds heavier.  There is nothing that will keep me from enjoying a meal - even if I can't taste it.  I can tell by the texture and heat that it is probably good, so I just keep eating.

When I was in middle school, a friend's father was a builder.  He was roofing a home when he lost his balance and fell from the top of the house.  Fortunately, it was a single story home.  Unfortunately, he landed on his head.  He spent a day or two in the hospital with concussion and a few other complications, but he was able to walk out when his stay was over.  The only lasting affect was that he completely lost his sense of taste.  Completely.  I couldn't imagine the nightmare of a life without flavors!  The comical thing about it was that even though he couldn't taste his food, he continued to salt and pepper every dish.  He even used hot sauce and vinegar sauce on certain dishes that had been habit.  He acted as though he could taste everything.  If a person didn't know the truth, they would assume that this man loved his food as much as the next guy. 

I recently heard a really great sermon that took a different spin on one of the miracles of the Bible.  The passage is from 2 Kings 6:1-7.  "Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Behold now, the place before you where we are living is too limited for us.  Please let us go to the Jordan, and each of us take from there a beam, and let us make a place there for ourselves where we may live.” So he said, “Go.”  Then one said, “Please be willing to go with your servants.” And he answered, “I shall go.”  So he went with them; and when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.  But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Alas, my master! For it was borrowed.”  Then the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And when he showed him the place, he cut off a stick, and threw it in there, and made the iron float.  And he said, “Take it up for yourself.” So he put out his hand and took it." This is quite interesting.  It almost seems unnecessary to mention because it looks so trivial to our modern-day thinking.  There were a few reasons, though, that the young prophet was distressed. 1) the ax was borrowed and 2) this was before the modern industrial revolution, and the kind of metal used was difficult to come by, making the ax head very valuable.

The point of the message was very interesting.  This man was doing good work.  He was working alongside other men of God.  They were building a place where they could live, study and worship.  It was a good plan, a godly plan, even.  But as the young man was busy working, the ax head fell off.  Sometimes, we get so busy with every day life.  We even get busy with the work of the Kingdom of God, yet, in the middle of our good and godly labor, we can lose purpose and effectiveness.  Elisha, the man of God, came over and said to the younger man,  "Where did it fall?"  This was the point of the message.  If we find that we are just going through motions, lacking passion, fervor and purpose, we need to question ourselves, "Where did I lose my zeal?  Where did I drop my purpose?"  It is important that we move with purpose and conviction in what we do.  It is important that our lives are not just busy but also fruitful.  The young prophet could have continued to swing the ax handle and look the part of a worker, but he recognized that not much would come of it.  He immediately asked for help to get back on track so that his input would not be in vain.

If you find yourself in a season that lacks the flavor of the passion of God, turn around and determine where you dropped it.  Did you allow yourself to become critical of your brothers and sisters in Christ?  Did you harbor unforgiveness in your heart?  Did you open a door to promiscuity or pornography?  Did you begin to allow the definite lines between right and wrong to become blurry in your desire to gain a want?  The reasons for our falling away are numerous and varied, but the solution is singular:  You must go to the place where you dropped purity and passion for Christ, and you must pick it up again.  We may be able to fool others around us.  They may think that we are following God with our whole heart and tasting of His goodness in every aspect of our lives, but only we can know the bland taste in our mouths if we are just going through the motions without the full flavor of God. 

I can't taste a thing today.  This saddens me greatly, but I probably won't stop eating.  I'm just not that girl. I will keep at it until I can taste everything again! So, pass the salt and pour the gravy!  I'm going to eat my way out of this cold!