Friday, December 27, 2024
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Microwave Blessings: Stop Trying to Out-Cook God

Rubbery turkey. Doughy rolls.

That’s what we get when we try to push our blessings faster than what God has in mind. It’s what happens when we get tired of waiting on God, and we try to do things in our own strength.

With the holiday season upon us, my thoughts veer to food and family and food. It’s the time of year when eating carbs and various desserts are acceptable in God’s sight.

When you put food in the microwave, it’s been said that all the nutrients are zapped. We eat vegetables for their nutritional content – the vitamins and minerals to keep our bodies functioning at peak performance. That’s like eating vegetables for no reason – there is no value.

This is not to say that we care about the nutritional content on the day after Thanksgiving or Christmas. The microwave is perfectly fine.

Just as God is fully capable of a quick blessing. He has come through in a clutch situation many a time. Hey God, I need… Okay, DONE.

Meet for God’s Glory

But for the original holiday dinner, there are some things (people) that first need that cleaning, then the seasoning and marinating, the oven on a low temperature, then the slow-roast, and/or the slow cooker. Some things need to have all the ingredients cut, peeled, grated and mixed together – and then baked. And all of this happens long before the table is spread and grace is said.

The final result? Oven-roasted turkey where the meat is juicy. A roast that is tender and flavored just right. Mac and cheese with a golden brown topping. Greens that sing the blues. Pies that call your name. And cakes for breakfast.

But, in order to have it come out the best way possible, we have to allow the cook to clean, prepare, and bake/fry/roast everything in its proper time at the right temperature. We have to allow the cook to cook. We cannot speed up the process. Or we won’t like the outcome quite so much.

Are you in the kitchen, in the way, trying to tell The Cook (God) how to “prepare” you?

How effective will you be in your purpose unclean, unchopped, untried, and cooked on high heat to a burnt crisp?  Will you be successful mixed and seasoned with the wrong people? How can we glorify God without Him first straining the pride, envy, bitterness, or unforgiveness from our hearts?

So, what’s the play call?

In order to have our blessings be what God intends them to be, move out of the way and let God cook it up God’s way. God needs us to let Him knead us. We can’t out cook God – waiting on God is our best option. Get ready to be your best YOU in the Master Chef’s capable hands.

Happy Holidays!

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Breakfast With Tiffani

This is so true! Currently reminding myself of this!

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Two businessmen’s unusual conversion in 1700s South Carolina led them to liberate the people they put in bondage. At first glance, William Turpin and his business partner, Thomas Wadsworth, appeared to be like most other prestigious and powerful white men in late 18th-century South Carolina. They were successful Charleston merchants, had business interests across the state, got involved in state politics, and enslaved numerous human beings. Nothing about them seemed out of the ordinary. But, quietly, these two men changed their minds about slavery. They became committed abolitionists and worked to free dozens of enslaved people across South Carolina. When most wealthy, white Carolinians were increasingly committed to slavery and defending it as a Christian institution, Turpin and Wadsworth were compelled by their convictions to break the shackles they had placed on dozens of men and women. In an era when the Bible was edited so that enslaved people wouldn’t get the idea that God cared about their freedom, Turpin left a secret record of emancipation in a copy of the Scriptures, which is now in the South Carolina State Museum. Perhaps it’s not surprising that this story of faith and freedom is mostly unknown. The two men were, after all, working not to attract attention. Neither had deep roots in Charleston or close familial ties to its storied white “planter” dynasties. Turpin’s family was originally from Rhode Island, and Wadsworth was a native of Massachusetts who moved to South Carolina only shortly after the American Revolution. Both had public careers and served in the South Carolina Legislature, but their political profiles were not particularly high. Neither of them appeared to give any of their legislative colleagues the sense that they were developing strong, countercultural opinions on one of the most ...Continue reading...

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