Some Things Must Be Tasted to be Enjoyed

"Taste and see that the LORD is good" - Psalm 34:8a

Why does the Bible use Taste in its call to experience God?

Taste can change opinions. I was in my 30's before I tasted broccoli because I could not stand its look and smell. My opinion changed when I actually tasted it with a little cheese. I still don't like the smell, but the taste is worth it.

Similarly, I don't always like the presentation of God or religion by some of its proponents, but the firsthand experience God in Christ has made the rest of little consequence.

Taste is different than sight - watching can be done from a distance but taste is up close and personal. Like John Wesley, Anglican priest and founder of the Methodist movement, said after his "Aldersgate experience",

I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.¹

Taste requires a sense of adventure and a willingness to try something new. Experiencing Christ, especially as an adult, happens by a willingness to experience something new and taking a chance without really knowing what the experience will be like.

And taste, while it can be described to anyone, can't be known without personal experience. Once someone experiences the living Christ, all the contrary chatter in the world is just that, chatter.

- Fritz

^{1 - Wesley's Aldersgate Experience}