Life is Like an Oreo Cookie

Acts 19:21-22

You’d probably be hard pressed to find someone whom, as a child, didn’t pull the two sides apart of an Oreo cookie and eat the icing first followed by dipping the chocolate cookie into a glass of milk. In fact, most likely, you did it yourself. I know that I did.

Today’s verses are kind of like the icing of an Oreo cookie. They are surrounded by all the action, which takes place in Ephesus both before and after.

On the front side of the icing Paul is debating in a lecture hall, and as a result people come to believe and trust in the name of Jesus. Others are miraculously healed while frauds are confronted by evil spirits. Everything seems to be going right. Life is good.

On the backside of the icing a riot breaks out in Ephesus. Chaos reigns as a few agitators create strife and conflict by manipulating the crowds to focus their anger and hostilities towards Paul and his followers. Everything seems to be going wrong. Life is bad.

In the middle of the cookie are verses 21 and 22. We are told that Paul decides to go to Jerusalem by way of Macedonia and Achaia, and eventually to Rome. But before he leaves he sends Timothy and Erastus ahead of him. There’s a lot of planning, strategizing and decision making, but not much action per se.

Paul’s life is like an Oreo cookie – good things happen, hard things happen and decisions are made, but the icing is the best part. And what was the icing in Paul’s life and is in our lives?

It is God at work. Unlike the cookie, God is always with us. God is always at work not just in the middle or when things are going well, but even when things seem to be going bad.

Our lives are like an Oreo cookie. How is God at work in your life?