Changing Taste
As a boy growing up in north west Texas my family did what others would consider strange. At best, strange. When Momma had finished brewing coffee for her and Daddy, we kids would often take the grounds and chew them. Okay, really strange. However, with this early introduction to the taste of coffee, I learned to love the taste of coffee. I enjoyed coffee so much that I would drink it hot, cold or lukewarm – the stronger, the better. My coffee would always be black with no sugar or any other taste to enhance it. I loved coffee. Two twelve cup pots a day was usual. But something happened. I don’t know how or why, but something happened. One morning I woke up and the taste of coffee turned my stomach. I don’t like the taste of coffee. Friends and relatives told my wife to have my DNA checked to see if this really was Foy. I have also often heard of other people who, when they had grown older their tastes in many things changed – from fashion to hair style to food and drink. Okay, so what?
The gospel is not a matter of taste, but truth and salvation.
If there is nothing but personal taste to determine some situations, then each person’s taste are the only thing that matters. This is true, for the most part, with matters of food, clothes and hair styles. However, there are some matters which can not be adduced merely from personal likes, tastes. Matters of eternal significance must be determined by the highest, the revealed, standard given by the Eternal Divine Nature, GOD! Cain tried to determine his worship merely from his situation instead of following God’s directives, Genesis 4:3-7. Cain’s unauthorized worship led to murder and exile. Morality based on the feelings of the moment, by king David of Israel, rather than God’s directives, led not only to adultery and murder but also to the death of a child, 2 Sam. 11:2-12:18. Biblical examples could be multiplied. Moreover, in the New Testament we find Christians turning from honesty which God ordained and a husband and wife, Ananias and Sapphira, suffering both the humiliation of Divine wrath but also physical death, Acts 1-11. The Divine standard does not change, regardless of human taste.
I also grew up in a family where music was everywhere. Momma sang ditties and great songs. We all sang secular songs and spiritual songs. Momma played the ukulele. In college I learned to play the trombone and took some lessons in piano. I loved listening to the “big band” sounds of famous orchestras. When I came to the New Testament, the last will and testament of Jesus Christ, Heb. 9:15-17; 10:9-10, it was immediately obvious that God said “sing,” Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16; Heb. 13:15 AND that God intended this for psalms, hymns and spiritual songs wherever and whenever they were used, James 5:13. Now, my personal tastes no longer have any value because God has spoken. The truth will not change so I must change my tastes to match the truth.
I have often wondered what it would be like to stand before Jesus in the judgment, 2 Cor. 5:10, and try to explain to him why I thought my tastes were of more value than His and why He should accept what I like rather than what He said. If Matthew 28:18-20 is true AND IT IS, then we must observe what Jesus said and that’s all. Tastes change. The New Testament does not change.
Foy Forehand