Hey y'all! Thanks for coming back. I definitely forgot that last week was my finals week when I said that I'd post sooner. I finished everything by the grace of GOD, but I'm definitely hoping to prepare more effectively next semester (y'all see what I did there? If not, you probably haven't read the last two posts or you forgot about them. Either way, I would suggest going back to read them before you continue). I'm not saying that I didn't do well; I'm just saying that I could've planned more and procrastinated less (a lot less). I'm probably going to have to do a post about procrastination soon. I give everyone who's reading this permission to hold me to it. But that's not what we're here for. Or maybe it is... Let's see where God takes us. I might be typing, but it's with His direction.
Jumping into "part 2" of this series... Last week, we defined what a process was and discussed step 1: preparation. Let's continue with the analogy of baking and/or cooking. This week, we're talking about reading and following the recipe. In order to prepare, you already had to look over the recipe to get the necessary ingredients and materials. If you have a photographic memory, you're probably good to go and you can just cook. But if you're like the rest of us, you'll probably want to have the recipe ready somewhere that you can easily access so that you can follow the steps. I've tried to do the thing where I look over the recipe and get cooking/mixing without having it handy. Once, I was mid-recipe and realized that I skipped a step, so I had to add those ingredients out of order. The food was fine, but it didn't come out exactly as I had hoped. Another time I was baking brownies and I forgot to add water (don't ask). I had already started pouring, so I mixed the water into the remaining batter poured it on top of the ultra thick, no-water batter. I figured everything would correct itself in the oven.
I'm about to go in a direction that I did not plan because I think there's a WHOLE WORD here. Normally, I'd say it's for another time, but I told y'all that I'm just typing here; God is truly leading. Recipes call for you to mix the ingredients BEFORE they go into the oven because everything changes when heat is applied. For example, the water in the brownie recipe likely evaporated quickly in the oven because it was on the top instead of mixed in. It was necessary, but not properly blended and couldn't stand the heat on its own. Those brownies didn't correct themselves in the oven; they were hard and stuck to the bottom of the pan because even though the water was there, it wasn't mixed in. What does this mean for us? I'm so glad you asked 😊
We can pray, read the bible, and go to church without truly living what we've learned. If it's not a part of who we are (if it's not mixed in), when we ask God to be "tried by fire" and "purified," we're going to see the truth about who we really are and where our trust really is. Is your prayer life "mixed in?" Is your study time "mixed in?" Is gratitude "mixed in?" Is giving "mixed in?" The list can go on and on, but the question remains the same. Do these biblical precepts form your identity or do they evaporate when the fire comes? Are the ingredients mixed in so well that they cannot be separated? If any of y'all has ever successfully removed a beaten egg from some batter, please let me know. How about butter or sugar?That's how it should be for us and Christian living; nothing (not even the fire) can separate us. And when the ingredients are properly mixed, the fire makes you come out better than you went in. Before you put brownies in the oven, you're not even supposed to taste the batter because of the raw eggs. But when you take them out, it's something chocolatey and delicious that's safe to eat. So let's get our "ingredients mixed in."
Now it must be said that not all ingredients are created equal. When I made the cookies, I was allowed to use the mixer to beat the butter, sugar, and eggs, but I had to switch to a spatula to to mix in the flour, oats, and raisins. I had to take my time "folding" in the latter ingredients; it required more energy on my part because the dough was getting thicker. Thinking about Christian living, some commands and precepts won't take much effort for us to follow, but others will require time, patience, and more effort from each of us. You don't just delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night with the snap of a finger. When God says that you'll be like a "tree planted by the rivers of water," have you ever really thought about what that means (Psalm 1:1-3)? Trees take YEARS to grow upward because their roots have to first grow deep into the soil. How can we be like a tree planted if we're not putting in the work and time required for the growth process? I'm not saying it should take years for you to build a practice of reading your bible, but I'm saying there is a process. And even more, some commands and precepts will seem easier for other believers to live out or easier for you. God didn't say we'd all be like the same kids of tree planted. Apparently there are over 60,000 species of trees in the world, and even within those species no tree looks exactly the same. So, we must not compare either.
Real quick, let's go back to the struggle of folding in some ingredients. Normally, I would've been so frustrated because of how long it took in comparison to the other ingredients, but I had the instructions of my coach to follow. And she was there (virtually), asking to see my progress at every step. Let's become so close with the Holy Spirit that we always remember how present He is at every step. One way we can do that is by spending time with God and in the Word. The Bible isn't a book we read just to prepare. We should be in those pages daily as we walk it out. Psalm 119:133 says: "Direct my steps by Your word (NKJV)." Another version says "guide my steps" (NLT), or maybe you recognize "order my steps" (KJV). *cue music* In any case, this is a reminder that we need the word in order to take the right steps. It's not a coincidence that the psalmist wrote it out in this way. We can't just go to the Word in order to confirm the vision or that which we hope for, and then let it start collecting dust while we begin the journey (without godly wisdom). Because then we'll wonder why we don't reach the goal or why things don't turn out well, and start with the "God, why did you let this happen to me." Before you ask Him that blame-filled question, make sure you ask yourself if His Word directed your steps.
We are human; we are NOT going to remember all of the steps. I'm in this with you. Don't think this is one of those moments when I'm saying that I have it all together. When they say that there are three fingers pointing back at you, I truly feel that right now. We all have to make sure that true, biblical Christian living is mixed in to who we are, not just something on the surface. And we should be "reading the recipe" while we're on the journey. I didn't even get to "following instructions" in this post, so I guess there's more to come, but before I go....
Homework Time: I'd like for each of us to spend some time with God and ask Him what "ingredients" are properly "mixed in" to our lives and which ones need some more mixing. Ask Him which one He wants you to start mixing; don't just choose the one that you feel would be the easiest. This assignment isn't directly related to the past two, but I think it's the direction that God wants us to go.
If you read the post, you know exactly why I chose this picture.
Thanks for reading! Have a merry Christmas and stay safe! Remember that you are GRACED and God loves you so much.
December 23, 2020