Better Than a Muffin

Imagine with me for a sec...

You're standing in line at Starbucks; it's been a long day that's not over yet and your tummy is rumbling.  You look in your wallet to find only enough change for a tall coffee.  You sigh and avert your eyes from the last muffin of the day sitting pretty, delicious, and all alone in the display case.  Just coffee will have to do.  You make your order and dump your change into the barista's hand.  Just then, someone slides 2 dollar bills across the counter and a voice from behind you says, "And that last muffin for them, too, please!"  Shocked, you turn around, but before you can politely refuse, the kind person next in line smiles warmly and chuckles.  You thank them profusely and share a laugh over the kind of day you've had.  The barista pulls that precious last muffin from the case and as they are moving to put it in the paper bag, the unthinkable happens.  You watch in slow motion as the muffin slips from their hands and tumbles down, down, down....splat!  Right onto the floor, sticky and filthy from a long day's work.  Tell me, what would your response be towards the person who bought the muffin for you?  Would you take your thanks back because you didn't get the muffin in your hand?  Would any of your anger or disappointment be directed at the one who paid?  No!  Their money wasn't bad.  It wasn't their fault you didn't get to eat the muffin.  You would thank them anyway for their generosity and kindness.

Christ paid for something much better than a muffin.  He took 39 lashes and died a bloody mess for our healing.  In faith we accept that healing.  What is our response, then, when the healing doesn't get to our hands?  Do we retract our praise and faith in the One who paid for it?  Though healing and wholeness is our right by faith in the grace of God, sometimes the muffin just falls on the floor.  But Christ has paid for it already and He is worthy of our praise, worship, and thanksgiving before, after, and even in the absence of the healing restoration.  Gratitude is the correct response of the Christian to Christ's work, whether we taste the reality of it in this life right now or not.

One more thing,  I can't imagine any Starbucks that I've ever been to letting something like that happen without compensating for it with a free voucher of some kind.  I also can't imagine God being outdone in faithfulness by a coffee company!  Sometimes we get the healing right away, and sometimes we have to come back again!  It's paid for!  It's yours!  Continue thanking God for it, and come back until you taste it!  

Bliss to you!
Sarah

2 Corinthians 9:15
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!


Ephesians 5:18-21
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.


Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.


Colossians 3:17
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.


1 Thessalonians 5:17
in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.


Hebrews 13:15
Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.


1 Peter 2:24
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.