Small Potatoes

“These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us.  There’s far more here than meets the eye.  The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.”  – 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 MSG

Small potatoes! I love the word choice of Eugene Peterson in The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. Having worked for several years in the HR Department at Herr Foods, I learned a few things about potatoes.

For example, potato chips sell wonderfully during times of crisis. When are Americans most likely to purchase a small bag of salty potato chips? Would it be when their pockets are full of cash and they can afford a sit-down dinner in a 5-star restaurant? Or would the enjoyment of chips be more likely when one is confined to their home, making their own meals and living on a scant budget? Perspective about potatoes and matters of life and death changes significantly during times of crisis.

One of the most significant crises anyone will face is their own death.  Fear of death can be so significant that our perspective can become clouded with our intense desire to resist it’s inevitable arrival.

Humans are most often inclined to treat death with a “self-preservation” mentality. From this perspective, there is absolutely no benefit to death. The ultimate goal is survival for as long as possible. Death should be avoided at all costs. Death is feared because death is considered the ultimate obliteration. Death…is…the…enemy. Don’t talk about it. Don’t plan for it. Don’t prepare for it. Most importantly of all, don’t ever, EVER voluntarily accept death. That would be ludicrous. The “self-preservation” worldview never guides its followers to lay down their life for another. If death is on the line, then the mantra followed is “kill or be killed.”

But what if death is necessary? What if the absence of death would eliminate more essential elements of a healthy world? What if God’s discipline of death was an act of love? Your Last 24: Preparing for the Inevitable (The Legacy Series Book 1),

Is fear dominating your perspective?

Are you fearing sickness, death or poverty?

I encourage you today, look beyond the small potatoes of fear in front of you.  Look toward the future lavish banquet God is preparing for you. This time of suffering is temporary.   Turn your perspective toward Him because “there is far more here than meets the eye”.