Along the main road just outside the estate where I live is a Shell petrol station with a 7-Eleven store. Most 7-Eleven stores have a machine dispensing hot chocolate, cappuccino or mocha at S$1.90 per cup.
There was a particular week when my wife took leave to supervise our kids' revision for their upcoming exams. As I did not need to fetch her to work, I decided to go to work much earlier (so that I could likewise leave the office earlier). On the way out of the estate, I would stop by the store each day to buy a cup of hot chocolate, cappuccino or mocha.
Last Sunday, I decided to go to the Shell station near my church to get a cup of mocha. To my surprise, the cups used by this particular outlet seemed smaller. I asked the counter girl about this, to which she replied "No lah. It's always this size."
I looked at the cup again and indeed, there was even the official 7-Eleven logo on it! Yet, having bought drinks several times already from the one near my house, I was pretty certain that this one was significantly smaller.
Nonetheless, I decided to get the cup of mocha.
A couple of days later, I happen to drop into that 7-Eleven outside my estate to buy a loaf of bread, and decided to get a cup of hot chocolate. Bringing it home, I compared the 2 cups, and sure enough, they were of different sizes!The folks who have been patronising the outlet near my church would have been shortchanged. Yet, until they visit another outlet, they would continue to be none the wiser.
I suppose what was more troubling was the fact that the smaller cups also had the 7-Eleven logo, which gave the appearance of authenticity.
Check out this YouTube video that illustrates the difference in size.
A deeper spiritual truth dawned upon me as I reflected upon this episode.
Many Christians would say, "Aiyah. All churches are the same lah. The pastors also talk about God and about being good to others."
Yet, like the saying goes, the devil is in the details.
How do they talk about God? As Someone who cannot wait to punish us? Or as Someone who can't wait to embrace us?
How do they talk about being good to others? As a means to "score points" with and remain in fellowship with God, or as a consequence of and response to knowing how good God is to us?
The testimony of Israel Houston's wife sums this up. (Israel Houston is the one who sang the catchy song "Say So", which I blogged about here.)
Anyway, she has been a Christian for many years. Having read Destined to Reign, she said that she felt cheated.
When those who have been buying the smaller cups of drink discover that the outlet near my house uses a bigger cup, they would probably have a similar response -- of being swindled, shortchanged, robbed.
Dearly beloved. Have you been a Christian for many years, yet find that your spiritual life has been one of ups and downs, of highs and lows -- rather than one filled with perpetual abundance and victory? Could it be because you have been cheated of what is rightly yours as a child of God?
Get the book Destined to Reign to discover for yourself all the things that you are an heir to, as a result of what Jesus has done on the cross of Calvary.
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