We are all potatoes

It is dinner time and you are very hungry. You haven’t had anything to eat all day because of how busy you have been. You walk to your pantry and begin looking for something that is quick, filling, and very good. For a minute, you just stare at all of the food that you have in your pantry. The grocery store last week just took a couple of hundred dollars from you so you know that you have plenty of groceries to choose from.

After a few minutes of the toughest decision of your day, you decide on a baked potato. They are easy to cook and have a variety of ways that you can fix them up for a great meal. You want the potato quick so you throw it in the microwave and press the button to start the countdown.

Now, your potato is done and you are ready to cut it open and dig into it. You cut it opened and realize that there are black spots in it. Not just one but many. The inside of the potato is rotten. There are so many black, moldy spots inside of it that you are not able to eat it. It is hard to believe how bad it is because from the outside it looked like a very nice, large tomato with no blemishes at all. Once you dug deeper inside of it and got to know it better, you realized how messed up it really was.

Our everyday life is the same as this episode with the potato. Whether we are at work, home, or even at worship with our family we will experience some type of scenario like the one above only with people.

We are all potatoes.

Using the church family as an example. We are all potatoes. Think about it for just a second. We walk into our place of worship and there are hundreds of people sitting in pews or chairs just waiting to worship. Everyone looks the same on the outside. I am not talking about physical appearance but they look of happiness and well-being that each show on the outside.

So, we are in the auditorium (or wherever worship is held) and you walk up to someone that you don’t really know that well. You strike up a conversation with them and being to talk. Services are over at this point but the conversation that you have started has just begun. The person begins to tell you all about their recent struggles and the hard times they are going through. All of this comes as a shock because they look so happy on the outside.

Just like the potato that was picked out of the pantry, you never knew how much trouble this person was having until you got to know them better.

There are people struggling every day and everywhere. We need to take time to get to know these people better and understand what they are going through. Matthew 22:39 tell us that the second greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. That includes us getting to know each other, especially our brothers and sister in Christ so we can help them if they ever need help.

If you are struggling on the inside but masking it on the outside, we would love for you to let us know so we can pray for you. Let God take control and begin to heal you.

God is Good…