The Decoder

How I loved the prize in a cereal box when I was a little girl.
It was usually way down at the bottom of the box; I grew impatient to finally reach it.
To a child, waiting a whole week until the cereal was finished seemed torturous.
I remember once pouring the cereal into a bowl in order to find the prize.

That did not go over too well.
Learning things like patience and not instant gratification was a necessary lesson.
Also learning that touching the cereal that other people would eat was not acceptable.
Big lessons for a little girl.

The prize, when found, never seemed as wonderful as I imagined.
Being an only child, I didn’t have to share my prize.
Having five children, sharing and waiting went with the territory.
It was a life-skill lesson all from a cereal box.

When my boys were little, a matchbox car was the ultimate prize.
We still have a car with the cereal’s logo on the hood.
I remember pens with a movie character at the top.
Also, spoons that turned a different color when placed in cold milk.

Those prizes were usually wrapped in plastic that was covered with cereal crumbs.
Often, multiple versions were offered for certain prizes.
The hope was that eventually at least four versions would be found.
Having only one duplicate was never the case.

A sweetened popcorn snack, with its own iconic name and box, had a prize at the bottom.
That was never a favorite snack of mine.
I knew better than to ask my mother to buy that snack even for the wonderful prize.
Prizes seemed to get smaller over the years; or else I just grew up and got bigger.

I remember loving a decoder that happened to be the prize in a favorite cereal.
Rectangular in shape, it had a mysterious piece of red plastic covering the front.
Cards came in a plastic sleeve that upon first glance were unreadable.
Gibberish letters that spelled out a mysterious code.

When the decoder was placed over the letters, they became clear.
Secret messages that could only be discerned when the red plastic was placed on top.
One little rectangle was used to solve a mystery.
What was once unknown was now known.

I enjoyed reading mystery books when I was young.
I had many of the Nancy Drew books where the mystery was solved by the last page.
A good who-done-it by Agatha Christie always had me trying to figure out the resolution.
I was wrong as many times as I was right; often the least suspecting person was the culprit.

Mysteries got you to think.
How nice it would have been to have a decoder to lay across the pages.
Red plastic placed over the words so the mystery would be solved.
No work on my part at all.

That’s not how it is done.
Clues are given.
Details must be noticed.
Pieces must be fitted together.

Did you ever think that a decoder is needed in order for people to understand the Gospel?
The words on the pages of the Bible are gibberish to those who do not have eyes to see.
They are seen but not understood.
People need help decoding the message.

Often, we Christians, in our zeal to share the Gospel, forget about the decoding.
We throw around terms and phrases that we assume people will understand.
An unbeliever needs a decoder in order to make sense of God’s Word.
Not red plastic placed on top of the letters, but the red blood of Christ and His Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the perfect Decoder.
God’s Word jumps off the page and becomes alive.
God’s Word is understood as it unfolds before them.
What was once a mystery is now made clear.

I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness – the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ is you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:25-27)

Until the red blood of Christ is placed over us, we are unable to decode the mystery.
We need to pray for the Holy Spirit, the Great Decoder, to come into our heart.
We need to pray that the words that were once gibberish to us are now life.
We need to be told that there is a great Prize, Christ in you, the hope of glory.

It is a mystery no longer when the Spirit awakens the heart.
The pieces fit together as the plan of salvation is made clear.
There is resolution only when the Decoder resides in the heart.
The mystery is solved.

Now to Him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey Him – to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ. Amen. (Romans 16:25-27)

No prize in a cereal box could ever compare.
No mystery ever read is as important to solve.
No plastic decoder could ever reveal its truth.
Only the Great Decoder, the Spirit of the Living God, residing in a heart can make it clear.

Mystery solved.