Special Dishes

My wife and I have tableware for everyday meals, then there’s the tableware we use when we have company. The plates and such are just a bit better than the “regular” dishes, and as time goes by that difference becomes more pronounced. Because we use the one set more often it picks up dings and flaws at a faster rate.

Then there’s the Really Good stuff.

Before were were married, Linda purchased some expensive crystal glassware. Our first Christmas together I gave her a cabinet I’d built especially for the Really Good things.

The more special a thing is, the more careful we are with it. “Oh, MAAAAN, I spilled some red wine on my expensive shirt!” QUICK! Get the stain remover, rush it to the cleaner who knows how to get it out.

The stained rug in your kitchen gets a few droplets and it’s no big deal. “Whatever. Who cares if it gets another stain?” But was it always that way? When you first got that rug did you treat it with disregard?

There’s a recipe for anointing oil used by Hebrew priests. It’s so special it’s not to be used for any purpose - only anointing performed by Hebrew priests. Anyone else using it, or using it for something lese, will be, in essence, shunned in the worst sense of the word.

The oil, and anything like it, was for holy purposes only. It’s not meant to be used to light your home, for instance. Not even for special guests. If you remember, “holy” means “set apart.” Of all the gods worshiped in the world, their priests were not to use that oil. Their religious items were not to be anointed with it, either. The Hebrew tabernacle and temple were one in a billion.

Then there’s God, called “holy, holy, holy” in Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4. If that oil was only for one in a billion, God is even more special than that.

Now take the Commandments. There’s one which tells us not to take the name of God in vain. That means don’t use it for “regular” conversation because it’s holy. When someone sneezes, do you say “God bless you?” If you really mean you wish the blessings of God upon that person, by all means, say that. But if that’s just a reflexive statement you are, in essence, profaning the name of God.

If you curse using His name, that’s just as bad.

I can hear some of you already. You roll your eyes and wonder why I take this so seriously. Let me assure you, I take very few things seriously. If you know Linda, ask her. I drive her to distraction with jokes about . . . let’s say “inappropriate” . . . things.

I firmly believe there is only one God, the One revealed in the original writings of the Bible - both Old and New Testament. All throughout those writings are cautions about what will happen if we don’t take Him seriously. Many of the books have a verifiable age to the original writing, and their prophecies have proven true. So when God says “don’t do that,” I’ll certainly try to not do “that” - whatever “that” is.

Do I fail? Absolutely.

I was reminded recently about a T-shirt I wore with something like this written on it: The wages of sin is death. Quit before payday. A coworker of mine at the time asked if anyone can quit sinning? At the time the best I could come up with is, “Nope.” But now I have a better response: “Wading in mud is different from rolling in it.”

God expects us to make mistakes. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve ate fruit from the tree God told them not to eat from. God asked them, “What have you done?” Did they say they’d made a mistake? No. Adam said, “It’s her fault!” Eve said, “It’s Satan’s fault!” No sense of taking responsibility. I wonder what would have happened if they’d said, “Whoops! Shouldn’t have done that. Sorry, God.” But they didn’t.

What God wants from us is to say “Whoops” when we make a mistake. “Sorry about that. I’ll try to do better next time.” We’re supposed to stand up in the mud pit of life instead of rolling in it. Yes, we’re still dirty, but we’re washed by the Living Water of Christ.

When it comes to God, put away your mundane dishes. Bring out the Really Good crystal.

If you have some of that anointing oil, use that, too. I can’t urge you enough that He is worth it. He’s holy, holy, holy.

And we are not.