Monica Bass is the senior editor for Striving Together Publications, the publishing arm of Lancaster Baptist Church and West Coast Baptist College. She wrote an article that I’d like to share with you over the next couple of days titled Hold That Taste. I hope it will be a blessing to you…
We live in a culture that moves quickly—sometimes relentlessly so. News cycles refresh by the hour, conversations are abbreviated, and even meaningful moments are often rushed through on our way to the next obligation. We skim headlines, scroll past thoughts, and move on before anything has time to settle.
That hurried pace doesn’t just affect our schedules; it shapes how we process truth. We hear good things, meaningful things—even life-shaping things—but we rarely linger with them. We consume and move on.
There is a word Scripture uses that stands in quiet contrast to that rhythm: savor.
That idea of savoring—holding onto something good instead of moving on too quickly—appears in a passage of Scripture in which we often overlook the word itself.
In Matthew 16, Jesus asked His disciples a pivotal question: “Whom say ye that I am?”
Peter answered with a powerful declaration, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus affirmed his answer with words worth remembering: “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”
What follows is one of the doctrinal highlights of the Gospels: “upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
But in the emphasis we give to Jesus’ declaration, we sometimes miss Peter’s lack of savoring.
For just a few verses later, when Jesus began to speak of His coming suffering and death, Peter rebuked Him. And Jesus responded with a startling statement: “Get thee behind me, Satan…for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (Matthew 16:23).
Peter had received profound truth directly from God, but he didn’t savor it. He didn’t linger in it. He didn’t hold onto it. And because he didn’t savor the things of God, he acted on fleshly—and in this case, even satanic—thinking.
It’s striking when you think about it. Peter didn’t reject truth. He didn’t argue against it. He had just boldly declared it.
But he didn’t hold onto it. He didn’t let it settle in. He didn’t give it time to shape his thinking or recalibrate his perspective as he moved on to the next moment.
Unfortunately, we do the same.
We hear truth preached. We read it devotionally. We nod in agreement when a verse pierces our hearts.
But then the moment passes. A schedule demands our attention. A conversation distracts us. A problem presses in. And before we realize it, that truth has slipped from both our minds and our living.
It’s not because the truth isn’t powerful. It’s because we don’t savor it as we should.
Scripture often describes truth as something we experience with our senses—a kind of spiritual taste:
- God invites us to taste His goodness:“O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him” (Psalm 34:8).
- God describes His Wordas sweet: “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103).
So how do we move from simply tasting to actually savoring the things of God? It’s not complicated; it just requires intention. —-
And, that’s where we end for today. Let me ask, though, do you savor the things of God? Hopefully, you can say with certainty that you’ve tasted the last point Bass makes. God calls us to taste His grace: “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious” (1 Peter 2:3).
https://ministry127.com/hold-that-taste
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