Stale Cookies

Recently someone brought a bag of Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from a grocery store bakery to an event at Verve. Few were eaten, so they were left in our building. The next day I was working when I noticed the bag. As they were from a grocery store I didn’t have high expectations, but I was hungry so I tried one. Delicious. Soft and chewy and crazy good. The next day I realized the bag was still half full, so I had another. Decent. Not quite so soft or chewy, and only kind of good. The day after that the bag was still there, so I ate one more. Disappointing. Hard and brittle and pretty bad.

And I wonder if those cookies represent a lot of our Christian lives? We start out with hearts that are soft for God and being in relationship with him is just crazy good. But slowly things change. Then one day we realize that we have is a hard heart and a brittle faith and the whole thing is just disappointing.

So how do you avoid that, or reverse things if they’re moving in that direction? I think it has everything to do with what we do. It’s almost never about our faith – most Christians who feel distant from God haven’t stopped believing. It’s about our actions. Just like with every relationship, we need to do the kinds of things that connect us to and build our relationship with God. And we need to do those things, because of everything it’s ok to lose in life, our closeness with God isn’t one of them.

My new book, Renegade, is all about doing the kinds of things that give us an active, growing faith and relationship with God. If you haven’t yet, you might want to check it out. It’s at least better than stale cookies.