Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Betcha can't eat just one

Saturday, March 24, 2001

Luke 18:9-14
The Pharisee says,
"I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get." Jesus says,
"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Mahesh Chavda visited Urbana a few years ago and talked about some of his experiences with fasting. Although he normally cleaned out his cupboards during long fasts, once he forgot to remove a bag of potato chips. On the eighteenth day of a forty-day fast the potato chips began talking to him.

"I am so salty, I am so crispy, I am so much waiting for you to eat me. I will be very good, I will taste so very very good."

Mahesh listened too long, he ripped open the bag and ate every chip. Not the kind of break-fast to be proud of. Whatever self-righteousness he felt about his eighteen days of eating nothing was shattered.

It's been nearly ten years since I heard this story. What keeps it fresh in my mind is what Mahesh said next.

"I ate the chips. I closed my eyes. I repented and resumed my fast."

That day Mahesh somehow found a path of humility through the minefield of religious righteousness. He did not dwell on his guilty feelings, he did not dwell on God's disappointment with him, he did not dwell on his behavior at all but turned away from it and back to God as quickly as he could.

When I am looking at God and thinking about him, it's not an issue whether I'm exalted or humbled. Issues about ME take a back seat; and being with God, being there, being that matters, is all that's real. Fasting, forgiving, praying, giving and receiving all flow naturally within our relationship. I am not caught in the static cling of pride, nor the heavy mud of guilt. I am clean and fresh and rising new. Every morning.

When we look to you, Lord we are radiant. Our faces are never covered with shame. We taste and see that you are good; we are blessed when we take refuge

Devotions Archive

Betcha can't eat just one

Saturday, March 24, 2001