Real or Artificial

I have three packets which most of you will recognize. The first is a packet of sugar, the second is called Sweet’n Low, and the third is called Nutrasweet. You all know about sugar. It is a natural product that comes from the sugar cane plant. We use sugar in cooking to make things sweet. It is used in cakes, cookies, sodas, Kool-Aid, and we often put it in our tea or coffee to make it sweet.

Sweet’n Low is an artificial sweetener that is used pretty much the same way sugar is used. There is one problem with Sweet’n Low, it makes things sweet, but after you finish it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.

Nutrasweet is also an artificial sweetener. It makes things taste sweet, and leaves no bitter taste, but there is a problem with Nutrasweet. You can’t use it in cooking because when it gets hot, it loses its sweetness.

If you want cook something that is sweet, but doesn’t leave a bitter aftertaste in your mouth, you have to use the real thing!

Some people are like Sweet’n Low. They claim to love Jesus and seem to be really sweet, but you can tell they aren’t real. There’s something about their phony sweetness that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.

Some people are like Nutrasweet. They also claim to love Jesus and sometimes they can be very sweet, but when things aren’t going their way and things start to heat up, they lose their sweetness.

We need to make sure that our sweetness is the real thing. The love of Jesus living in our hearts!

Dear Lord, help us to be real sweeteners in our world. Keep us from bitterness, and may we never lose our sweetness when things start to heat up! Amen.