"FRESH!"

Remember when Michael Jackson sang "You know I'm bad. I'm bad,”—the word “bad” meaning “good.” Now “bad” has been displaced by “fresh.” The Urban dictionary defines “fresh” as something really good and eye-catching—example: "Those are some fresh shoes!" or "That's a fresh car!" or "Man, you're fresh!"

Now hang on. I’m about to make a sharp left turn…

In the early Methodist testimony meetings, John Wesley made it a rule that no one was to give a testimony that was more than one week old. It had to be “fresh.” And anyone who had no story to tell of the Lord's dealings with him during the previous seven days was considered a backslider. Would you and I have to sit silently in one of Wesley’s meetings because we had no “fresh” word?

During their journey in the Wilderness, the Israelites were fed by “fresh” manna every day. If they tried to save the “manna” for the next day, it would spoil. It was only “fresh” [good] for a day. Centuries later, Jesus said He was that bread which had come down from heaven! [By the way, He was born in Bethlehem which is translated “House of Bread!!”) And just like the manna from heaven had to be consumed daily, Jesus taught us to pray “give us this day our daily bread.” All of this begs the question: do we approach God’s Word everyday expecting something “fresh?”