Daily Devotional – 5/10/18 “Expiration date!”

Stop forcing something to work that is beyond its expiration date. Do you use spoil milk in your macaroni and cheese? Do you use old oil to keep your motor running? Do you cook old meat for your family? Do those old batteries still operate the remote? Can you stay in an apartment whose lease has expired? How about driving with expired tags or license? Can you? Then why are you trying to force something to work that has expired? If your church home isn’t feeding your spiritual need, it may be expired. If you put more money in that raggedy car than you do your house, it may be expired. If you consistently find ways to sabotage your relationship or have to search through other folk’s phone; your trust in them has expired. And I know this may be hard to hear but you can’t force something that no longer has the potential to be or do what you need.

It’s like this old cord I used to have for my phone. Most of the protective coating had worn off, there were wires hanging out the end and sometimes I’d have to play around just to get it to charge but I still trusted in that cord. Until one day when I really needed it. Phone was dead and all I had was this raggedy cord that was past its expiration date. Yea, it worked the times before but when I needed it the most, it could not help me. And although I wanted to blame the cord, I couldn’t because I knew it was past its expiration but I still tried forcing it. Why? Because it “used” to do what I needed. Yea, I saw the signs but it used to work. Yea, I knew it but it used to work. Beloved, stop forcing what you know needs to be discarded. If it/they cannot be what you need in your time of need, it/they may just be past its expiration date too. Stop trying to make things work or stuff taste better when it’s past its expiration date. Yea it used to work but it doesn’t anymore. Face the reality, shed a few tears, throw it out and then you’ll have the possibility of replacing it.