The Cream of the Crop!

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Written by Danny Bunn,B.A. (Born-Again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ)


Chapter 33
The Cream of the Crop

"You know honey, when I was living at home on the farm. Pop would come into the house at different times with a piece of fruit or some vegetable that he has grown. I remember one time when he had an apple in his hand, he ran up to us and said, 'Look at that beauty. No flaws or blemishes, beautiful. Nice shiny red, round and plump. It even glistens in the sunlight.' Honey, you could see on his face how proud he was of that piece of fruit. Do you know what he said next? 'This is the cream of the crop.'" I think about that at times since I have been walking with Jesus and experienced his blessing, his chastisement, his watchcare, his provision. He has never lost sight of us over the years honey, he has been faithful to his most holy word. We have missed him at times, disobeyed him, got angry at him and just all around missed the mark at times but he has always been there to pick us up when we fell. He glistens in the sunlight when we have eyes to see. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending. He is the altogether lovely one. He is the Prince of Peace. Our Pride and our Joy. He is the Answer with all the answers as he has shown so many times before. Honey, he is the Cream of the crop. Not only that, he is the one who has planted his seed in our hearts, who has fed us, nourished us, who has pruned us, who has harvested us, he is the one who has created all things and yet he is the Cream of the crop. What is the strange thing about this is, he takes us as we are and makes us something that we could never be in ourselves. He is working in and on us to be the cream of the crop down here since we are saved to be conformed to his image. He wants us to walk like he walked.

Postscript: Cindy and Joe met many more trials, tribulations, failures, as well as victories, blessings, and so many other things tied up in a life submitted to obedience to the one true God. They had picked up their cross and they had no desire to lay it down, the life that they were experiencing was the best that they could have imagined. To know the Creator in such an intimate way was the one thing that they always craved and they didn't even know it for a long time. Not until they met the Lord of life, then they knew what had always been missing, the vacuum was filled with the only one who could truly fill it. Jesus did not say that the struggles, the heartaches, the confusion, the doubts, the hurts, the over all pain would go completely away, he did say that he would be with them to take them through it. Even through the valley of the shadow of death, he would be there. For the valley to have a shadow, there has to be a light there and Jesus is that Light, the Light of the world. Even death would not be a fear for them, for they knew the Creator of life itself. Since he died and rose again, they knew that they too would one day die to rise to be in his presence forever.

Comment: We are either on the road to life or the road to death. Jesus has shown us that there are two roads. Many follow the wide road to death and destruction but few take the narrow road to life. God sets it before us and he lets us choose which one. The narrow road is walked on by receiving Jesus, the wide road is accomplished by rejecting him. He gives us the faith to receive, the courage to stand, and the will to go on but we have a choice and that choice is a real choice. God is not playing games with us. He means what he says. He sets the captives free and he does so by his word going forth, either through the preaching, proclamation of his truth, by the prayers of his saints, in written form, and other ways but he is drawing people to himself by his people being led by his Spirit. Jesus is coming soon for his own. Are you ready?