A germaphobe I am not, I eat things that bounce off the ground. I do stop short however at stuff that gets covered in cat hair. And I’m a tosser of sketchy fridge stuff (which reminds me that the salmon I ate last night must have been OK – which means I know what I am having for lunch!). A superstitious person I try not to be, the Lord gives us direction and confidence that he has things under control. Superstition is distraction and the Lord is Truth. I still won’t walk under a ladder, however, that’s just plain not good. It’s not Irish luck I should pray for, but awareness and gratefulness of things I already have. I will laugh about wearing lucky socks, but the fact is that I am not lucky that I have many socks, even ones that match, but that I am blessed to have feet that need socks! Feet that take me places and I am grateful because they are just there and they still work… I am blessed and I do know that the Lord has provided… None of these blessings came by luck.

I went to Target, not my choice, and the massive volume of people, especially in these covid-concerned times, was a bit much. I put on my mask and my armor of God and increased my prayers for a hedge of protection. But I had to realize that I was just as much of the problem as everyone else there, because I was there too… I don’t know where they’ve been and they don’t know where I’ve been. Don’t think of me as virtuous because we all have this collective unknown of potential bubble bursts moments.

That very moment of these thoughts, standing in the sweetner aisle, I looked up and on the top shelf I saw the blue box with the word: “EQUAL“. Yup.  At that moment I felt the EQUAL of being just as much of a problem as everyone else. Humbling EQUAL. We are all the same. ALL IN THE SAME BOAT. We are all EQUAL. This is a wind out of your sails humbling, rather than a raise the sails for superiority. No one is superior here.

 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 ESV

“As it is written: None is righteous, no, not one…” Romans 3:10 ESV 

But OF COURSE this blog is not just about shopping and covid. When I say we are “all in this together”, I know that I’m not just speaking about a pandemic, I’m speaking about ONE BODY IN CHRIST. EQUAL is our sin weighing equal with everyone else. We are all equal. And we are all wanted by Jesus to be together in worship, in helping, in healing. Together.

SO, so many sins including ones we don’t even think about on top of original sin. Sins like “thou should not covet”… yup… and everything in between.

Jesus said: “And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible“. Matthew 19: 24-26

Equal, the sweetener, attempts to be thought of the same as any other artificial sweetener (of course they want to be considered better). There are pros and cons to the pink stuff the yellow stuff the blue stuff the green stuff and the white stuff and the brown stuff (raw and yummy but not any better for your waistline).  Sweeteners are not all equal. Sinners are. And we should not think of ourselves as better or less than the other sinners. All EQUAL. Humbling… Yeah…

We are not “lucky” that we have Jesus, we are BLESSED.

Jesus’s life purpose is EQUAL to the task.

AMEN!