Master God is the Master Chef...
I went through my old bible today.. Man that poor thing is beat up. As I was perusing it, I saw a portion of scripture that was interesting to me. This scripture is interesting because I am read it before, but at the time, I think I just glossed over it. With recent developments in my life, it is so applicable, that it begs me to read and explore it here too...
2 Kings 2:19-22
These 4 verses are power packed and amazing to re-read. First thing to notice is that the city these men were in (Jericho according to verse 18) was pleasant.
When was the last time your house was pleasant? Jesus likens his followers to a city, so when was the last time the body of Christ was pleasant? With so much fighting and dissension among the different denominations, arguments about the end times, arguments period are not pleasant. We often allow things in our lives to cause what I will call churn. This churn goes on and on, distracting us from life and robbing the pleasant from our hearts, homes, and relationships. When that happens, the grounds on which the city is built become polluted and barren and life becomes bad. The only way to restore life, as indicated, is to add salt.
What is salt? Salt is a mineral that is most commonly used to flavor foods. an element that gives liveliness, piquancy, or pungency.(Dictionary.com)What does the bible say about it? Other than geographical references (i.e. the Salt sea), the bible has the following:
Leviticus 2:13
Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.
Numbers 18:19
Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD for both you and your offspring."
What is this covenant of Salt? We need to delve deeper into Salt. Salt by itself is a seasoning, it also cures things especially meats. It melts ice. This covenant to me, signifies the fact that God will season our lives, he will cure us (heal, deliver), and will melt our hearts of ice and stone and set a new heart in us.
Picture God as a master Chef. No, not the Master Chief (for all you Halo Fanboys out there), but a master Chef. He is cooking us his people... I know that's a tough image, but think about the analogy for a second. When we say yes to Jesus, we are like raw meat. We have a TON of potential, but only a good chef can pull all the different tastes together to create a masterpiece that literally makes the tastebuds of everyone who tastes it explode with pure, unadulterated Joy and Flavor.
He starts by turning on the stove of faith. Taking the pan of life's circumstances and adding the oil of the Holy Spirit to more evenly cook us. He is so tender, he knows just how to treat us, he doesn't burn us, or over cook us, but just enough. Side note: The trials we face often feel like they will burn us, or will overcook us, but if we allow the Holy spirit to saturate our lives, all the burning does is add flavor.
When life becomes hot, the meat begins to sizzle. At this point, all the fat and potentially diseased sections begin to melt away. God works on us from the inside and begins to change us. Romans 12:1 says that to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice is worship! In meat, if you don't cook it all the way, you can get sick. Just like that in Christianity, if you don't allow God to cook you all the way, not only are you not done, but you could cause someone else to become sick! Fat are those things in our lives that aren't sin, but are not good either, we need to allow them to melt away in the heat of life if we want to be a good flavor to God.
When we are cooked, God adds other herbs and spices to our lives. Those of prosperity, joy, health, peace, goodness, gentleness. These herbs, when combined with what GOD already put in you when he created you, adds such a beautiful mix of flavor and complexity to who you are. God wants to use us to feed into other people, to give them strength and courage. To give them insight, and allow them to get a taste of just how good a cook God really is.
I say giving us to deliberately. Christians in our country have forgotten that God intended us to be public consumption. We were called to go out, and God is preparing us to be nourishment to someone who is hungry. We were never created to sit in our churches on sunday mornings and just be filled up, we were never given wealth and prosperity to hold it in, but to give it away!
The problem comes with this when God is cooking us. He intends us to be given away, and if we just refuse to come out of the pan, we will overcook, and become gross. Not only bitter tasting, but purely UN-palatable.
Let God cook you!
2 Kings 2:19-22
19 Then the men of the city said to Elisha, “Please notice, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the ground barren.”
20 And he said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. 21 Then he went out to the source of the water, and cast in the salt there, and said, “Thus says the LORD: ‘I have healed this water; from it there shall be no more death or barrenness.’” 22 So the water remains healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke.
These 4 verses are power packed and amazing to re-read. First thing to notice is that the city these men were in (Jericho according to verse 18) was pleasant.
When was the last time your house was pleasant? Jesus likens his followers to a city, so when was the last time the body of Christ was pleasant? With so much fighting and dissension among the different denominations, arguments about the end times, arguments period are not pleasant. We often allow things in our lives to cause what I will call churn. This churn goes on and on, distracting us from life and robbing the pleasant from our hearts, homes, and relationships. When that happens, the grounds on which the city is built become polluted and barren and life becomes bad. The only way to restore life, as indicated, is to add salt.
What is salt? Salt is a mineral that is most commonly used to flavor foods. an element that gives liveliness, piquancy, or pungency.(Dictionary.com)What does the bible say about it? Other than geographical references (i.e. the Salt sea), the bible has the following:
Leviticus 2:13
Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.
Numbers 18:19
Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and your sons and daughters as your regular share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD for both you and your offspring."
What is this covenant of Salt? We need to delve deeper into Salt. Salt by itself is a seasoning, it also cures things especially meats. It melts ice. This covenant to me, signifies the fact that God will season our lives, he will cure us (heal, deliver), and will melt our hearts of ice and stone and set a new heart in us.
Picture God as a master Chef. No, not the Master Chief (for all you Halo Fanboys out there), but a master Chef. He is cooking us his people... I know that's a tough image, but think about the analogy for a second. When we say yes to Jesus, we are like raw meat. We have a TON of potential, but only a good chef can pull all the different tastes together to create a masterpiece that literally makes the tastebuds of everyone who tastes it explode with pure, unadulterated Joy and Flavor.
He starts by turning on the stove of faith. Taking the pan of life's circumstances and adding the oil of the Holy Spirit to more evenly cook us. He is so tender, he knows just how to treat us, he doesn't burn us, or over cook us, but just enough. Side note: The trials we face often feel like they will burn us, or will overcook us, but if we allow the Holy spirit to saturate our lives, all the burning does is add flavor.
When life becomes hot, the meat begins to sizzle. At this point, all the fat and potentially diseased sections begin to melt away. God works on us from the inside and begins to change us. Romans 12:1 says that to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice is worship! In meat, if you don't cook it all the way, you can get sick. Just like that in Christianity, if you don't allow God to cook you all the way, not only are you not done, but you could cause someone else to become sick! Fat are those things in our lives that aren't sin, but are not good either, we need to allow them to melt away in the heat of life if we want to be a good flavor to God.
When we are cooked, God adds other herbs and spices to our lives. Those of prosperity, joy, health, peace, goodness, gentleness. These herbs, when combined with what GOD already put in you when he created you, adds such a beautiful mix of flavor and complexity to who you are. God wants to use us to feed into other people, to give them strength and courage. To give them insight, and allow them to get a taste of just how good a cook God really is.
I say giving us to deliberately. Christians in our country have forgotten that God intended us to be public consumption. We were called to go out, and God is preparing us to be nourishment to someone who is hungry. We were never created to sit in our churches on sunday mornings and just be filled up, we were never given wealth and prosperity to hold it in, but to give it away!
The problem comes with this when God is cooking us. He intends us to be given away, and if we just refuse to come out of the pan, we will overcook, and become gross. Not only bitter tasting, but purely UN-palatable.
Let God cook you!
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