I have never been extremely domestic. My days of making my own clothes saw me sewing items that required no zippers, no buttons or buttonholes, or any sleeve but ragland. Any pattern that had the word “simple” in them but included one of the above was lying.
I am not much of a cook either––but I recently purchased an item that has improved my culinary skills tremendously.
After reading various reviews, and upon the recommendation of family members and friends, I finally broke down and bought an Instant Pot. I immediately went online and looked for the “50 Best Instant Pot Recipes” then culled through those to find the easiest. I have been nothing but pleased with the results. However, I did learn a valuable lesson.
After a nice vegetable soup experience––very nice I might add––I moved on to chicken tortilla soup, one of my favorites. However, I made a slight miscalculation in my shopping list. First, I forgot to buy oregano, didn’t have marjoram (which was second best according to a website), and had to settle for thyme, a distant third.
But more importantly, I forgot to buy tortilla strips, and I only purchased half the required quantity of chicken. I think you can see where this is going. Chicken tortilla soup without chicken and tortilla strips is … well … not quite chicken tortilla soup.
Our Christian lives sometimes reflect this same miscalculation. We are determined to demonstrate all of the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control), yet we either don’t pay attention to what we plop in the pot, or we substitute.
Instead of filling ours heart, soul, and mind with God’s Word (the source for our spiritual nutrients), we chose to feed on the world’s diet provided through any medium: written, visual, personal contact. For many of us, the ratio between the time spent with secular sources in relation to biblical and spiritual ones can be substantially lopsided. I just calculated mine and it was an embarrassing 6 to 1.
Matthew 15:18 begins with Jesus saying, “What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart…”
Even the secular world would agree. Aristotle on talking about “excellence” once said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
The important part of that quote is the first part: “We are what we repeatedly do,” because as Jesus reminded us, what we say, (and by extension do) comes from the heart. And so the basic question again is … what are you feeding your heart…your soul…your mind?
Just as we can’t expect our physical health or stamina to improve if we don’t change our diet, neither can we expect our spiritual life and Christian walk to improve if we ingest what the world is feeding us rather than God’s Word.
Sometime this week take a survey of your spiritual pantry. Then decide what you need to discard and what you need to stock up on.
I am not much of a cook either––but I recently purchased an item that has improved my culinary skills tremendously.
After reading various reviews, and upon the recommendation of family members and friends, I finally broke down and bought an Instant Pot. I immediately went online and looked for the “50 Best Instant Pot Recipes” then culled through those to find the easiest. I have been nothing but pleased with the results. However, I did learn a valuable lesson.
After a nice vegetable soup experience––very nice I might add––I moved on to chicken tortilla soup, one of my favorites. However, I made a slight miscalculation in my shopping list. First, I forgot to buy oregano, didn’t have marjoram (which was second best according to a website), and had to settle for thyme, a distant third.
But more importantly, I forgot to buy tortilla strips, and I only purchased half the required quantity of chicken. I think you can see where this is going. Chicken tortilla soup without chicken and tortilla strips is … well … not quite chicken tortilla soup.
Our Christian lives sometimes reflect this same miscalculation. We are determined to demonstrate all of the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control), yet we either don’t pay attention to what we plop in the pot, or we substitute.
Instead of filling ours heart, soul, and mind with God’s Word (the source for our spiritual nutrients), we chose to feed on the world’s diet provided through any medium: written, visual, personal contact. For many of us, the ratio between the time spent with secular sources in relation to biblical and spiritual ones can be substantially lopsided. I just calculated mine and it was an embarrassing 6 to 1.
Matthew 15:18 begins with Jesus saying, “What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart…”
Even the secular world would agree. Aristotle on talking about “excellence” once said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
The important part of that quote is the first part: “We are what we repeatedly do,” because as Jesus reminded us, what we say, (and by extension do) comes from the heart. And so the basic question again is … what are you feeding your heart…your soul…your mind?
Just as we can’t expect our physical health or stamina to improve if we don’t change our diet, neither can we expect our spiritual life and Christian walk to improve if we ingest what the world is feeding us rather than God’s Word.
Sometime this week take a survey of your spiritual pantry. Then decide what you need to discard and what you need to stock up on.
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