"Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able
to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world
forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the
heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be
able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on
the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the
preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of
faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the
evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which
is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the
Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and
petition for all the saints," Ephesians 6:11-18
I LOVE to cook! My
favorite things to create are one-pot meals, stews and chili. I remember the first time that I made a
batch of Bigos, or Hunter’s Stew. I
looked through recipe after recipe, wanting to get this Polish dish as
authentic as possible. After finding out
the necessary ingredients, I set to work.
The result of forty-five minutes of slicing, chopping, and measuring I
had all the ingredients mixed together in a crock pot for a long, slow
cook. The result was spectacular! Well, I HOPE that it was spectacular by Polish
standards. It tasted incredible,
though. Also, it was a perfect meal for
those cold, wintery days.
The reason that I love these types of one-dish meals comes
down to the combination of several different ingredients. It is an art of learning what sort of meats
or vegetables goes with certain broths, herbs, and spices. It must come together to complete the
masterpiece. Often, we may add or take
away an ingredient here or there, to make it our own. Quite frankly, I discovered my perfect chili
recipe that way. I took one recipe, that
I loved, and did a little merging with my daddy’s recipe…. PERFECTO! However, certain recipes need to be followed
to the letter.
In Ephesians, God gives us His "stew" recipe for
living as faithful followers to Him:
Truth, righteousness, preparation, protection from sin,
salvation, the Spirit, and the word of God. ALL of these ingredients are
needed. One cannot be missed. It is the recipe that you don't dare alter,
removing an ingredient or adding something totally different. Yet, it happens
all around us!
Many concentrate on one part of this and forget the rest.
The "stew" is incomplete. It does not contain the sustenance required
by the recipe. Some may feel that what
they have is all that is needed, not realizing what they are missing. Think of it like this: Someone makes you a bowl of Hunter’s Stew,
leaving out the meat. The meat is why it’s
called “Hunter’s” Stew. Or, they left
out the sauerkraut. Again, that is also
a KEY ingredient giving the stew that distinctive flavor. You miss out on what the recipe is MEANT to
be.
If we are to live a life following God, then we need to
stick to His recipe. We need to follow all of His directions, completely.
Otherwise, the result will not be what God intended for us to receive.
Happy cooking!
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