Stuff an Olive This Instant!

Stuff an Olive

Never mind whether or not you like green olives, just take a moment to behold one.

In your mind or in your pantry you can see it: round, plump, juicy green goodness. Not too dark, not too light, just that perfect shade of green—olive green. Packed with nutritional benefits, the green olive is a beauty. But, really, it’s nothing until it is pitted and stuffed with something.

Pimento is a popular center for the green olive. That little splash of red pokes out of either end, enticing you to plop the whole thing in your mouth and bite in. Other well-known and loved stuffings include walnuts, garlic, blue cheese, feta cheese, chipotle pepper, orange and lemon peel, Prosciutto, sun-dried tomato, Bubba Gump shrimp…

Now go back to the plain, pitted, but un-stuffed green olive. It’s attractive, sure, but it’s definitely missing something now that you know its potential.

Have you ever felt like that empty green olive? Perhaps you think you’ve cleaned up well enough on the outside to fool everyone. But really, your self-esteem—your core—is slim to non-existent. Maybe your green olive exterior was never built upon the screaming red pimento truth of your incredible value. Or, maybe your core was strong and healthy when you were younger, but life circumstances have whittled it away and today you feel as though your center is missing. Like the chef who just doesn’t know his clients’ tastes, you try to fill yourself with whatever is the flavor of the day.

What if you didn’t have to “swap out” or “try on” different centers? What if you claimed the reality that your core has already been determined? What if you began to live the truth that Jesus Christ actually likes you? Could you become whole and complete, pitted of everything perishable and “stuffed” with the truth of His unchanging love? Could you let Him be your center?

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."
Hebrews 13:8

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20