Burnt Bacon and the Love of God

A few weeks ago my youngest son grabbed my phone and captured this picture as the morning sun was shining through our front door window. It was one of those beautiful bright mornings, and the shining sun seemed like it was bursting into our home. We stopped to soak it in and to appreciate the display of the beauty of God’s creation. On a normal sunny day that window always greets us with the bright morning light, but this time it was different. This time something happened that made it a little more visible.

We have all probably been here before… I was cooking breakfast and got distracted. After a few minutes, I realized that the wonderful aroma of cooking bacon had changed into the less-than-wonderful aroma of burning bacon. The kitchen began to fill with smoke, and I scrambled to keep it from setting off the smoke alarm in the kitchen. I didn’t think too much of it and went on preparing breakfast. It was about thirty minutes later when Beck grabbed my phone and took the picture of the sun shining in through the smoke of my burnt bacon.

It is a little bit of a goofy example, but as I looked at that photo I couldn’t help reflecting on how God did the same thing in my life. When I was 16 years old, I realized my life was a mess and I needed a Savior. He took the smoke from the fires of my life and displayed His amazing love. As a sophomore in high school I put my faith in Christ. Romans 5:8 says, “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

As we approach Easter, let’s humbly let the light of Christ shine through our smoky places, and let’s also praise Him for the ways He has already done that in our lives. God is happy to redeem our mess to display His glory. This is the very essence of the Gospel, and this is what we see over 2000 years ago as His Son died for us. But then—three days later He showed the ultimate victory over death, and Christ rose again. Hallelujah!

“And he said to them, ‘Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.’” -Mark 16:6