Better than Nutella or whipped cream

I believe Nutella®, the famous hazelnut/chocolate spread, is one of the great culinary inventions of our time. It transforms ordinary toast into a fabulous dessert, it is the queen of frosting, it turns most things sweet into a delight, and it is absolutely delectable all by itself.Long before Nutella® there was whipped cream. Pretty much whatever I told you about Nutella® is also true about whipped cream. You can’t count all of the sublime uses of whipped cream. And if you want to go for the coup de grace use them both at the same time, Nutella® and whipped cream – unbelievable, out of this world.I admit, both Nutella® and whipped cream have their limits. I would not put either on a bratwurst, nor would I add them to a tomato basil salad. I would not dip a pickle in them or barbeque with them.Maybe Nutella® and whipped cream leave you cold. Maybe for you it is TABASCO® Sauce, or salsa, or ketchup, or garlic, or …? (Feel free to email me your “makes most everything taste better” – dergermanshepherd@gmail.com).Let me advocate for something even better than Nutella® or whipped cream, something that truly has universal application: Gratefulness, Thankfulness. ^“Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” 1Thess 5:18 (HCSB).Actually Thankfulness, the giving of thanks, the expression of gratefulness is just one of several things on a list of things God encourages us to continually practice, to put on everything. “See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all. Rejoice always! Pray constantly. Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Don’t stifle the Spirit (what God wants to do). Don’t despise prophecies (what God says), but test all things. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil” 1 Thessalonians 5:15-22 (HCSB, parentheses mine).Can you imagine a world, a nation, a community, a neighborhood, a work place, a school, a church, a family where everyone is committed to what is good for one another and for all, where everyone avoids evil but hangs on to what is good, a world full of rejoicing, continual prayer, and thanksgiving, a world that listens to God and does his will? If we were to put that on everything, how sweet would that be?Now contrast that to the following, “But know this: Difficult times will come in the last days. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people!” 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (HCSB). I don’t want to be a person of whom God says, “to be avoided.” I want to be part of list A, part of the group of people who keep putting on the stuff God endorses, the stuff that makes life more delectable for everybody else.I am grateful for the life God invites you and me to, the life that is made possible through his Son Jesus Christ, the life the Holy Spirit encourages us to and empowers us to live. Let’s stock our cupboards with it. Let’s have others taste it. Let’s get ready for Thanksgiving, a life of thanksgiving.To God be all glory. Love you, Pastor Hans