Wednesday, May 23, 2018

God Is The Master Chef - Follow His Recipe For Living



…do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. —Matthew 6:25

{CHAMBERS} “Jesus summed up commonsense carefulness in the life of a disciple as unbelief. If we have received the Spirit of God, He will squeeze right through our lives, as if to ask, “Now where do I come into this relationship, this vacation you have planned, or these new books you want to read?” And He always presses the point until we learn to make Him our first consideration. Whenever we put other things first, there is confusion.  “…do not worry about your life….” Don’t take the pressure of your provision upon yourself. It is not only wrong to worry, it is unbelief; worrying means we do not believe that God can look after the practical details of our lives, and it is never anything but those details that worry us. Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the Word He puts in us? Is it the devil? No— “the cares of this world” (Matthew 13:22). It is always our little worries. We say, “I will not trust when I cannot see”— and that is where unbelief begins. The only cure for unbelief is obedience to the Spirit.  The greatest word of Jesus to His disciples is abandon.”

{ELGIN} What are you most worried about?  Money? Health? Relationships?  I find the greatest threat to my contentment is not problems with any of those things.  It’s letting the flame of faith dim in my life.  One way we fan the flame is through our relationships with other Christians.  We have gained some wonderful friends as we have sojourned for Jesus over the years.  One couple significantly impacted, in a positive way, how we respond to adversity.  Their motto for living is “We live simply so others can simply live”.  They have stood against the temptation to build bigger barns and, instead, show the world Jesus by the way they live and do.  I see so many Christians look to the world, their unsaved friends, for comfort and assurance.  Jesus walked among sinners, but He did not partake in their sin.  That always proves to be a little harder to do for most Christians I know.  We are not to live in isolation from the world, but are to live insulated from it.  A fish lives in the sea of salt water but is not salty.  In the same way we should not allow the world to “season” us with sin.  What appears to be reasonable can draw you away from the Lord and before you know it … you are indistinguishable from those who are lost.  Listen – sinners prefer that you participate in their sin.  It affirms in their minds that what they are doing is not so bad .. and you, as a Christian, are not so good – just like them.  This is a huge problem for teenagers … and those who find themselves alone facing life’s problems … trying to fix themselves rather than look to Jesus.

I have a recipe for scones that people really like.  If I decided to use other ingredients, the scones would not taste the same.  God has ordained how His creation best functions.  You can follow his plan or come up with your own recipe. Trust me, it won’t taste the same.  Wanting to go on our own way .. not trusting that God knows what is best … it all started in the Garden .. it’s part of our old nature.  And that old nature is always ready to rise up and dominate our thinking and our doing.  You are reading this so I sense you are looking to God on a consistent basis.  Encourage other Christians to do the same.  To follow God’s recipe then taste and see ….

(Psalm 34:7-9) “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing.”

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