spoon

Recently, Pa was being irritable, especially regarding food. At a nearby restaurant, he stopped for a quick meal and the waiter provided a bowl of soup.

As the waiter turned away to return to the kitchen, Pa stopped him, calling: "Waiter!"

"Yes, sir, is there something wrong?"

"The soup. Taste it," replied Pa.

"I beg your pardon, Sir?"

"Taste it."

"But, Sir, I can assure you that the soup is excellent."

"Taste it," Pa persisted.

"Sir, the soup was made this morning of the finest ingredients."

"Taste it!"

The exasperated waiter finally relented. "All right, Sir, I'll taste it." Then after a pause he said,  "Where is the spoon?"

To which Pa replied triumphantly, "Ah ha ... "

It doesn't matter how good soup is, if I have no way to get the soup to my mouth, I will never be able to enjoy it.  In a similar way, it doesn't matter how wonderful the gospel message is, if it doesn't get to those who need it, it will never do them any good.  The Bible uses several metaphors to describe this process.  We are the "hands and feet" of Jesus.  Also, Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:7 that we are "earthen vessels" of little value that carry the far more valuable message about Jesus.  Allow me to add one more image to the list -- we are God's "spoons"!

Think about this.  Nobody eats a meal at a fine restaurant, then later raves about how nice the spoon was!  No, they may rave about how good the soup was, but no one pays much attention to the spoon.  The purpose of the spoon is merely to allow you to enjoy the soup.  In fact, you hardly even notice the spoon.....unless you don't have one!

Our job is not to get people to notice us.  Rather, our purpose is merely to get the gospel message to as many people as possible.

"How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Romans 10:14).

There are people around you who will never know the beauty of the story of Jesus Christ unless you're willing to be a "spoon"!  Will you share that message with someone today?

-alan smith