How God Makes Lemonade

How God Makes Lemonade

Do you know any sour-lemon Christians whose faith hasn’t yet been sweetened with these ingredients: “goodness ... knowledge ... self-control ... perseverance ... godliness ... brotherly kindness ... love” (2 Pet. 1:5-7 NIV )? Is it someone in your family, church, school or workplace? Could it be you?

According to Peter, God begins our sweetening process by squeezing out the “sour” through “His divine power” (2 Pet. 1:3). And notice that the last ingredient added is the essence of His divine character – “love.”

So how does God actually make lemonade out of us “sour lemon” Christians? By instilling His character through various situations designed to squeeze us: “Consider it pure joy ... whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance ... so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (Jas 1:2-4). Have you felt the squeeze?

Continuing with the lemonade metaphor, let’s look at the steps in God’s process. First, He picks us when we’re hard, sour lemons. Second, He ripens us in the Son’s light. Third, He softens us with His firm hand of discipline. Fourth, He uses the press of trials to squeeze out every sour drop. Fifth, after discarding our tough rind, He dilutes our sourness with the water of His Word. Sixth, He adds the sweetener of His love. And finally He stirs us with supportive Christian fellowship.

Today, there’s so much pre-packaged, pre-sweetened lemonade available in the marketplace, people think it comes that way. But those of us in the process of developing a Christlike character know that it does not come instantly or easily. We’ll only become Christlike as God adds His ingredients to our faith, squeezing us a little in the process.

Interested in learning more about developing the character God desires? This month’s features will help you to know how God makes lemonade.

By Larry Ondrejack