As The Cookie Crumbles

I was sitting on the floor a few days ago, watching TV, getting upset with all the ads saying, we need this, and we need that, especially during this season. It's a crying shame all the ads that show "holiday" trees, and "holiday" seasons, and no longer Christmas trees, or celebrate a Christmas season. While I was thinking how sad this was, my 10 year old daughter made some cookies and brought me a couple. (Yes a couple....I can't eat just one) And as I was eating my cookies, I started to think....

This world has changed dramatically. In my generation alone, I've seen some great things happen. I've seen us get mobile by having beepers, and sending messages like "0.7734," which upside down, says "hello." I've seen us play video games without having to go to an arcade; with the Atari 2600 (I loved Pong). I've seen the cassette come and take over the music world, and get taken over by this new thing that just recently came out, called compact discs.

But unfortunately, in my generation, I've seen fist fights turn into knife fights, and now gun fights. I've seen couples who've lived and loved each other for years, now get divorced on the first argument. I've seen couples having "casual" intimate relationships, and believe this is OK. I've seen the President of the United States lie under oath, and America accepts it as it was nothing. I've seen people attempt to take "Under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance and off our currency.

It's just like my cookie. You take a bite, and you still have this big cookie, but the more bites you take, the smaller the cookie gets. Those bites are tasty, and maybe you are like me, and cannot stop at just one bite. So you take another bite to satisfy your immediate need. Soon you don't have any cookie left, and you may be looking elsewhere for another cookie.

Paul's beautiful letter to the Church of Ephesus says, "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind," (Ephesians 4:17 NKJV)

We should no longer accept what this world offers. We need to not conform to this world (Romans 12:2). In other words, do not let this culture change us, but let us change this culture. We need to be the ones making the cookies, as opposed to the ones eating the cookies.

Look at these words from George Bannard's hymn, called, "The Old Rugged Cross."

O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.

Let's aim to cling to that old rugged cross. Not just this CHRISTmas season, but the rest of our lives....


Dear Jesus, please forgive me for all those bites I took out of your cookie. I pray that you continue to give me the knowledge and strength to start making cookies to change the world for your sake.

Nick Manzie