The Grocery Store Gospel

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

— 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)

She stood in the checkout line, feeling anything but holy.

Her cart held a jumble of canned soup, a loaf of bread, and the weight of a thousand unsaid prayers. The fluorescent lights hummed a tune of mundane exhaustion. A long week at work, a quiet apartment, and a to-do list that never seemed to end; this was the landscape of her life. It felt small, a world away from the grand "callings" she heard about in sermons.

Just then, the elderly man in front of her struggled to lift a heavy bag of flour onto the conveyor belt. Without a second thought, she reached out and helped him. His grateful smile was a small, sudden sunbeam in the sterile light.

"Thank you, dear," he said. "It's for my granddaughter's birthday cake."

In that simple exchange, a truth settled in her spirit. The gospel isn't only for mountaintops and foreign mission fields. It lives in the checkout lines, in the simple act of helping a stranger. It’s in the choice to buy the ingredients for a meal that nourishes your body, treating it as the temple it is. It’s in the deep breath you take when patience wears thin, inviting grace into a grumpy moment.

God doesn't wait for us in a distant, spiritual realm. He meets us right here, between the cereal and the frozen peas, ready to transform our ordinary tasks into small acts of worship.

HOW ABOUT YOU?

Do you ever feel your faith is on hold until you have a "bigger" purpose? God is present in your everyday errands. Your faith is not separate from your trip to the store, your work commute, or your load of laundry. What if you saw these moments not as interruptions to your spiritual life, but as the very place God wants to meet you? How could you turn your next ordinary task into an offering?

PRAYER:

Lord, open my eyes to see You in the ordinary. Help me to find purpose in the small tasks and to offer my daily life as a prayer. Remind me that every moment is a chance to reflect Your love, whether I'm in a pew or a checkout line. Amen.