By Ron Walters

Sometime during the sixth day of creation, while omnipotence was fashioning man, the Creator must have said, “Let there be taste buds!”

… and God saw that it was good.

With that one stroke of divine creativity, our Maker so decreed that eating would be an act of diversity, not monotony—a sovereign gift to us fans of Ben and Jerry. Ah, God is good!

Taste buds—or gustatory cells, as the lab coat crowd calls them—are the unsung heroes of the mouth. These highly complex little buds were designed to recognize life’s four distinct flavors—sweet and salty, which, as the myth goes, are colonized at the tip of the tongue; sour, which sits along the sides of the tongue; and bitter, which does its work way back just before the food plunges into the digestive system.

Infants are the real beneficiaries of taste buds, possessing more than 10,000. In fact, babies have taste buds in every nook and cranny of their tiny little mouths. Obviously, it’s God’s brilliant plan to encourage eating and growth.

However, by the time those infants get to be our age, their quantity of taste buds will greatly decrease—no doubt God’s gift to encourage restraint at the dinner table. However, with 2,000+ buds still on duty, and replaced with newer models every two weeks, we have our disciplinary work cut out for us.

You may be asking, “What do taste buds have to do with preaching?”

Actually, a lot!

It’s no accident that Scripture uses the taste metaphor when describing the deep, rich, flavor-filled delights of God’s Word. For example:

The Psalmist declared, “[God’s Word] is sweeter than honey and the drippings from the honeycomb.”

The prophet Jeremiah said, “I ate Your words and they became a joy and a delight for my heart.”

In the pit of his despair, Job was buoyed by God’s Word: “I love Your word more than my necessary food.”

Peter challenged young believers to “long for the pure milk of the word so that you may grow.”

The writer of Hebrews said milk (or the mere tasting of the things of God) is for infants, “but solid food brings about maturity.”

A scriptural diet is the ultimate meal for churches. Whether in a stained-glass cathedral or a home Bible study, chewing on the promises of God is both satisfying and filling—and leaves us wanting more. It needs no seasoning or garnish. After all, God’s words created the heavens and earth—there’s not much we need to add.

That’s why Paul told his protégé to simply, “Preach the Word.”

Without it, a church will die of malnutrition. With it, a church comes alive. But watch out! Once introduced to it, churches develop an insatiable appetite for it.

Not long ago, during China’s crackdown on the underground church, government officials devised a plan they believed would eliminate Bibles and, in the process, disgrace its message. TV crews routinely filmed China’s State Police throwing cases of confiscated Bibles into local cesspools to the delight of a well-rehearsed crowd. The officials reasoned that this disgusting act would forever associate the Bible with sewage and thus discourage its rampant appeal and underground activity.

Instead of discouraging them, the church took note of the sewer locations, grabbed their boots and flashlights, and waded into the pools during the darkness of night to retrieve the Holy Scriptures. They took the Bibles home, washed and perfumed them, and laid them on their rooftops to dry. Once dried, the Scriptures were redistributed throughout China to bring life to their readers.

God’s Word has a bitter side too. Both Ezekiel and John felt nauseous as they penned their gut-wrenching warnings. Even today, their foreboding aftertaste is enough to turn any stomach—believer or non-believer alike.

Whether it’s to show us the truth, expose our rebellion, correct our mistakes, or teach us to live righteously, His Word will always accomplish what He wants. It has to—that’s how He prepared it.

And we pastors have the rare privilege of serving His Word piping hot each week.

Bon appétit. ❖

Ron Walters, a former pastor and Salem Media Group executive, currently serves as a ministry consultant and speaker.