For whatever reason, my family LOVES gummies. It doesn’t matter what shape they come in, bear, fruit, worm, fish, they’ll devour them in no time! And this is all well and good (well, in the right quantities) but the mom in me looks at those little shapes and I know that there is something better.

Something bigger. Something juicier. Something HEALTHIER! It looks like fruit. It smells like fruit. It even has a fruity taste. But, as we all know, there IS something better.

What does this have to do with the Bible you ask? Well I’ll tell you. In Hebrews 8 the author is making a connection between the Law of the OT and faith in Christ. He makes the statement that all the rituals and sacrifices were just an example of what was to come. Only when God’s promise of something better came to fruition, it would be permanent! It would not be something that would have to be repeated every year, it would be finished (as Jesus said on the cross).

“…there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.” Hebrews 8:4b-5

Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise of something better! The Law shows us how short we fall and how very badly we need a Savior. We cannot do it on our own! We have to go to the cross and there find our redemption once and for all. He is the ultimate Priest come down from heaven to be our ultimate sacrifice and break down the wall between us and the Father.

“Because of this oath, Jesus is the one who guarantees this better covenant with God. There were many priests under the old system, for death prevented them from remaining in office. But because Jesus lives forever, his priesthood lasts forever. Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.” Hebrews 7:22-25 (NLT)

The OT priest were a shadow of what (or Who) was to come…Jesus!

So often we settle for mere morsels when we could have something so much bigger! I believe C.S. Lewis said it best…

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (emphasis mine)

Instead of being satisfied with fluffy Bible verses and surface deep theology, we MUST dig deeper into Who God is and who WE are in Him! We must not settle! Back to the gummy…what my family could’ve been eating was big, juicy, ripe, sweet, actual strawberries. They were in the kitchen! There was even dipping CHOCOLATE! They needed only to look and this is what they would find…

OH! And for those of you who don’t even like fruit, I would suggest that instead of eating that mini Hershey bar, that you dig deep for the giant, dark chocolate bar that’s in the pantry 😉

At the end of the day, there really is no comparison…

And there is NOTHING that compares to Christ. Dig in and DON’T SETTLE!