31 flavors

For the full context of this post read Romans 8:31-39.

In 1953 Baskin Robbins launched their 31 flavor marketing campaign, not to represent 31 flavors of ice cream, but to represent the fact that there are enough flavors of ice cream to have a different flavor every day of the month. They currently have over 1,300 flavors. That’s a lot of ice cream, and my guess is that it might be a challenge to differentiate between a few of them. We can all notice the difference between bacon ice cream and chocolate ice cream, but can we differentiate between chocolate ice cream and chocolaty chocolate ice cream? There’s a fine line there.

Just like it may be hard to differentiate between an ice cream flavor or two, it can be hard for Christians to differentiate what is permissible and what is not. Christians debate what needs to be upheld as the letter of the law versus which should be followed as the spirit of the law. There is controversy between what is legalism and what is freedom. There seems to be a fine line between religion and relationship with Christ. I do not claim to have the answers to these questions. There’s a lot of different flavors of life!

Here’s what I do know:

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[b] neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39, NIV).

Ice cream lovers will debate the perfect ice cream. Believers in Christ will debate the “flavors of life” to determine what is good and acceptable. If we are followers of Christ, nothing can separate us from God. This week, I am going to do my best to follow Jesus, but if I mix that with a flavor which some say is acceptable and others say is not, I am going to recall these verses and know that nothing can separate me from God’s love.

https://www.baskinrobbins.com