Growing up we had a rule concerning milk. If my siblings and I wanted to drink some, we had to use a cup. Not a glass, a cup. The reason was this: If you leave milk in a vessel for to long (like that ever happens to teenagers), it will leave a milky stain. Especially if you have to wash by hand. And my mom’s reasoning was, that a cup is white already, so a milky layer would not be noticeable. (In case you wonder where I got my wits from.) We “bend” this rule often enough, drinking from a glass, covering our tracks by rinsing the glass right away. I mean, we new the reason for the rule. So we could follow it even by not following it, right? And because it was “illegal”, the milk tasted better. And to this day, milk from a glass tastes better than from a cup. Even though it is not illegal anymore, since I have to clean my own dishes now. So if I drink milk nowadays, it’s from a glass which I will clean right away. Even when it goes in the dishwasher afterwards. I can’t help it. It’s in my nature now. In a sense, it became a ritual. And even still, milk from a glass tastes better. Way better. But that is stupid, you say. And rightfully so. Why should milk taste any different from a glass than from a cup? I mean, it’s the same milk, right? But don’t we all have preferences that are not based on facts but on mere whims? Our little superstitions? Like preferring one side of the street over the other. And confronted with some hard facts, we can only say: “But that’s how I like it.”
The Bible is very clear, that the Spirit of God will fall on all flesh in the last days. And evenly clear, that we live in the last days since Jesus left for His Dad’s. (That is one major point in Peter’s sermon at Pentecost. Acts 2) Plus the whole “being filled with the Holy Spirit/Jesus living in us” thing, however you want to put it. Every christian is called to be a little Christ. With Jesus in our hearts and the Spirit by our side. (I avoid being to theological. For it can be a discussion that breaks churches apart.) My point is this: A christian, being in Christ’s image, is a aggregate of a 100% human (me) and a 100% God (God). And yet, the two parts are not equally important. So who is the dominating factor? Isn’t it God? By far? It sounds obvious, when I put it like that. Of course God is more important than me. (Right?) But all to often, that idea remains theory. We know it and then forget to act accordingly.
Personality is a big thing. When we meet new people a fraction of a second is all we need to determine, if we like someone. Is she loud or quiet? Does he take care of his appearance? Do they smell? All that makes us like or dislike a person. And it does not matter on which side someone lands, studies show, that we have a hard time to change our initial convictions. Once on my bad side, I probably suspect selfishness behind all your good deeds. Once on my good side and I will consider every bad thing you do a mere mistake. We hardly get past that stage. And we end up judging God based on the vessel He comes in. You can’t teach me. You are to young. You did not study theology. You are a woman. You are not a or better my pastor. And with all that we tell God time and time again: “I choose the vessel you have to use. I only see you in the right faces. I only hear you in the right voices. I only feel you in the presence of the right people. God, you are way less important, then the person you live in.” By isn’t that as stupid as dinking milk only in glasses? Shouldn’t we allow God (the Wise and All-knowing) to pick the perfect way to appear to us? When we can see God in the face of our enemy, we might realize, that he is not our enemy after all. Can we let the Holy Spirit be the Holy Spirit no matter if He comes in a glass or a cup? Or will we tell God, that we will always choose where to see Him, because that’s how we like it?
