Nibbling at Sin

Did your mother ever tell you not to snack on raw cookie dough? Mine didn't - I had never heard that raw eggs or dough could hurt you at all until well into my teens. Needless to say, my love for baking cookies and the taste of raw dough was a combination that was hard to break away from. I did eventually, although I must say I still enjoy a small taste once in a while, although I now understand the risks.

Today, as I was pondering a selection from Dr. John Piper, it reminded me of cookie dough. Let me explain further, but I will first share what it was that Dr. Piper had to say ~

"It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It's not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable."

So what is the connection to cookie dough? Well, let me illustrate with a story ~ A short time ago I was making chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen and one of my children (who had been told many times that it was not healthy to eat raw dough) came along and put a big chunk into their mouth. I calmly reminded them that it was not healthy and they smiled and finished eating it. That night, the same child was up in the night vomiting and feeling unwell - no one else in our family ever showed any signs of those symptoms...things that make me go "hmmm". I didn't rub my child's face in the fact that it could have been due to the raw dough, but it did allow for a gentle conversation about the choices we make when we have already been told of the dangers.

Can you see my connection yet? I believe that God often does the same thing with each of us - He warns us of the dangers, allows us to choose for ourselves and then often we may feel we have a gentle conversation with the Lord as to the choices we should have made.

Mark 4:19 says, "The worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the Word, making it unfruitful."

We can be in the Word but if we are also consuming the unhealthy things of this world or giving into worry (which is sin) we may find that we are not experiencing all God has for us.
Please take time to examine what "cookie dough" you may be nibbling at that should really be called SIN. No matter how small we think it is, it has to be removed so that God can more fully move in our lives.