What's Cooking?
Posted in Daily Focus on Monday, November 4, 2013
What type of food do you serve at your homeschool cafeteria? My children's favorite benefit of homeschooling was the fresh and delicious meals we made together as a family. No canned or prepackaged entrees were allowed. Learning how to cook was a mandatory lesson we incorporated into each child's curriculum. All the family appreciated the tasty A+ lessons of lasagna, stir-fry, oven-baked pot roast, fresh pies, cakes, breads, and salads.
However, teaching your children how to cook also means making messes. Peeling potatoes, mixing batter for cookies, and measuring spices and ingredients led to many accidents. Learning how to wipe up a spill, clean flour off containers, and wash the extra baking dishes were skills that also needed to be learned before enjoying the benefits. Of course, these skills were never quite as fun as the process of preparing the food. Our children wanted the fun of cooking without the hassle of cleaning up.
Our Christian walk is much the same. We want to sit at God's table and enjoy the benefits of the Holy Spirit without going through the disciplines of living a holy life. We make a mess of devotions and prayer times and wonder why God is not using us more. We use canned approaches in witnessing and fail to seek God first in prayer.
Is there an area of your life that needs disciplining — reading magazines and books that honor the Lord, making time for devotions and prayer, or maintaining a pure thought life? Share your area of struggle with a trusted friend and make yourself accountable. Find the help you need to stay disciplined and close to the Lord. "And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" (1 Corinthians 9:25-27).
Lord, show me the areas in my life that fail to honor You. Please, lead me to a Christian friend who will help me to stay disciplined in those areas, so my life will glorify You. Thank You for loving me so much and always forgiving me when I fail. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Comments(6 comments)
SISTER L 11/04/2008 08:57:43
Excellent article! Very true! Thank you.
REBEKAH T 11/05/2009 04:57:54
convicting. I love my devotional time with the Lord.... crave it. But I am not always persistant in follow thru with the actions I need to obey God's Word.
OLIVIA S 11/04/2010 04:39:23
Thanks for the devotion, I also find myself trying to get the easy way out of everything I do, but you just can't life is hard, and we got to work hard, do our best to receive something out of it all of it. I also like this devotion because it talks about having a Christian friend who'll help me along the way, I need a good friend like that too, I recently stopped hanging out with my non christian friends, as I became a Christian our worldviews changed, and so there were lots of arguments and disagreements with everything, they completely didn't understand anything. That was so hard, but I'm glad I can finally move on, Now I'm just waiting on the Lord to find me a true good friend!
SAMANTHA S 11/04/2010 05:03:39
Wow!! I believe it's time to throw out the "freezer gospel" and start pealing some fresh produce in my life!! Super convicting. I've heard it said we try to worship a "microwave" God who is really more of a "slowcooker". We try to rush God's plans so that we receive the blessing without the hasstle, but what I've learned in my experiance is the blessing is worth the process. Thank you so much for this reminder :) And, Olivia, God WILL put people in your life to help build you up and hold you accountable. I'll be praying for you! I am so happy to hear that He is already changing your worldview and has given you strength to search out new friends.
ESTHER K 11/05/2011 05:38:46
Good thoughts on the process. We couldn\'t learn patience and endurance without this process.
I am encouraged by what you shared, Olivia. You are describing the typical human condition, which, thankfully, we are to be saved from.
Keep pressing on! God will bless your attitude of mind mightily!
Love Esther
KATHY S 11/04/2012 17:26:16
Pastor John Hagee shared today that \"when we pray just when we need something, we will start to notice that we are always in need\".
It\'s true in my case, disasters keep on coming. I need to pray regularly and faithfully when things are good and when things are bad.
My microwave approach to prayer is not enough. Thank you for this reminder. Twice in one day, yopur devotional, Pator Hagee, it\'s not coincidence, I was meant to hear this message.
God Bless!