Marathon
Whenever I walk into a newsagent or petrol station I am confronted by the isle of chocolate! It’s strategically placed so that you have to go past it to get to the checkouts.
There is so much variety, a cheeky treat to suit all tastes. Do you ever give in to temptation, if so, what is your chocolate bar of choice?
I have a few that I may go for: a Double-Decker, or a Crunchie, or even a Milky Bar. More often than not, I go with the classic Cadbury Dairy Milk. I’m pretty sure this bar has been affected by shrinkflation, and yet costs more!
I noticed recently that the Snicker bar has been released under its old name of Marathon. This peanut filled snack is being branded as a ‘retro’ edition! I do wonder if sales will increase because of this clever little ‘spin’ by the marketeers?
The wrapper may be different but the product inside is unchanged! This reminds me of something I read in the Bible that God said…
“The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
The backdrop for this was when God sent a man, called Samuel, to find a new King for Israel. God told him to go to a specific family which had eight sons. Samuel saw seven of them and thought that one of them was to be king.
It was then God spoke, and the king to be chosen was not there at the time. He was a young man called David, who was eventually crowned and was the greatest king Israel ever had.
The point is, Samuel judged who he thought should be king by what he saw. However, God was not interested in that, but by what was on the inside, the heart. Not the thing that pumps blood around our body, but the ‘totality of our inner self’. To put it another way, our heart is our ‘entire emotional nature and understanding’.
It’s from the heart that we function, and it shapes our decisions, attitudes and actions. This is what God is interested in. His desire is for us to have ‘hearts like His’, that we may live in a way that is a reflection of God’s character and nature.
This is not achieved externally, in what we wear or how we present ourselves in social media pictures! It happens internally, as we allow God to shape and form us. We can easily change our outward appearance, and not change how we think and act.
If you happen to spot a Marathon bar then may it be a reminder that God is not concerned about the outward appearance, but the heart.
God bless you :)
Gary Bastin - Hope Community Church leader