Tag: Bible

Commentary, Ministry, Religion; spirituality

Smell What The Lord’s Been Cookin

Wynema

Have you ever tried to bake a cake with the wrong ingredients? It just never quite turns out. This example has been used by church leadership and ministries many times to evoke a need to re-evaluate what we are doing to see a desired end result in our lives. The other day I woke up thinking about this. As I lay in bed meditating on what that means from a new covenant paradigm I thought the most logical thing: If I am the cook then all this cake needs is Jesus to be perfectly perfect. Then the Holy Spirit stopped me and said why do you suppose that you are the cook in the equation? I had never thought that way before. I had always assumed that I had the major role in what goes in. But as I lay there in bed I realized that everything I need for life and Godliness has already been placed within me in Christ, so the ingredients are already there. Then as I rest in Him, He is cooking up His life and His nature through me that is as fragrant to a hurting world as baked cake is to a hungry nose. Neither the cook nor the ingredients are up to me the only thing I do is put myself in His hands and believe that He is cooking up more through my life than I could ever cook up on my own. I yield to His life within me, rest in what He has already done and then taste and see that the Lord is good.  And when I say good, I mean Jesus, He is the “good” that will be seen in me and He is the fragrance that will be smelled on me.  God really does have it in our lives.

2 Peter 1:3-8; Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:21; Hebrews 4; Colossians 1:27; Romans 6:13; Psalm 34:8

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Commentary

Perspective

Wynema

Each of us has our own world view, our own perspective.  This perspective is a result of the way that we were raised, the world view of our parents, events that have happened in our lives, and even pop culture.  It is this perspective that largely filters the way that we hear and see ourselves and our circumstances.  I think this is why you can have two hundred people sitting in a service with one speaker saying one thing and you will end up with at least a dozen different interpretations of what that speaker said.  Now, that isn’t always a bad thing.  I think God can use each different perspective to provide a fresh window in which to see the world, if we will listen to each other.  So our own perspective or world view isn’t necessarily a bad thing unless it is contrary to the “truth”.

For example, when I was married I was a size 8.  It didn’t take me long to kiss that size 8 goodbye and I remember the complete agony and embarrassment that I felt by growing to a size 12.  I felt so ugly and fat.  Years later after having two kids and getting up all the way to a size 16 I began the process of losing weight and when I reached a size 12 again I felt absolutely gorgeous, I mean I loved shopping and walked with my head up because I knew I was a knock out.  Now, what was different between the earlier size 12 and the later size 12?  The only difference was my “perspective”.   I am happy to say that I am now back into a size 8 at age 42 but the point is that, depending on what angle you are looking from, you will decide if something is a good or a bad thing.

A lot of conflict happens in relationships because we don’t recognize each others different perspectives.  A lot of the arguments that we have aren’t based on right and wrong they are simply based on each individuals perspective.  The Bible gives us a great tool to use so that we can operate and function in this world with a better grasp on each other and what is going on by taking a Heavenly perspective.

Colossians 3:2 tells us to set our mind on things above, not on the things that are on the earth.  In other words we can see things from a higher place.  Do you remember going to the playground as a child and looking up at the slide?  When I was little that slide looked huge and scary.  But when I grew up and returned to that playground that same slide didn’t look near as scary, in fact it looked fun.  That is what happens as you mature and begin to see things from a higher place.

I encourage each of us to recognize that we all have different perspectives, that we all come from a different world view but always strive toward a Heavenly view.  Philippians chapter 2 even goes so far as to tell us to let the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus.  What kind of perspective did he have?  He actually set aside his Heavenly perspective in order to be fully engulfed in ours and in doing that he brought us the opportunity to take on His mind and His way of seeing the world and people and circumstances.

What does that mean to you?

How are we to do that?

What will be the result if we do?

April 18, 2013Image

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