I know. It has been a while since I last put out a post. Thank God for Diann. She has been putting out her post under “Biblical Nuggets.” They have been great. Yet I have intended to also start writing posts again on a regular basis. But that has not happened. For one, I got rather sick in January and it took me quite a bit of time to recover, but that is not the main reason I have not written.
God works in mysterious ways. At times He blesses us with a glimpse at those ways but understanding generally takes more time than we are willing to wait. I especially have a lack of patience or better I lack the wisdom to understand that God works slowly and progressively in my life. I see some improvement in my character or behavior and assume I have arrived on the end of the issue. I treat it as if God were microwaving change in my life.
In reality God is more of a slow cooker. Think more of a crockpot over a microwave. Imagine having a wonderful pork shoulder roast. Now would you want that cooked in the microwave or a crockpot? Better still, slowly cooked for hours in a smoker. Yum!!!
Well like cooking a rack of ribs, God many times works slow and methodically in us to bring about deep, meaningful, and long-lasting changes. I am learning that I need to let God complete parts of His work in me before I jump in and think I understand it all (I say “parts” for God will not be done in this life with growing, molding and transforming me into the image of Christ, making me Christ-like that I may glorify Him).
Keeping our cooking analogy going, when we take that meat off the grill or out of the cooker, it is so important to let it rest for a period. In the same way I need to spend some time meditating about what God has done and is doing in my life. What is He teaching me? What should I be doing to reinforce His work in me? I need to ruminate on what is God truly transforming in me. I don’t want my lack of understanding and wisdom to be counterproductive to His transformative work in my life. I don’t want to be concentrating on the symptoms of character and relational issues rather than the core issues.
This brings me back to my lack of writing posts. God has been especially working in my life lately to bring about core changes in me. Yes, at 62 years old God is still wants me to be the image-bearer He created me to be and is still transforming me into the image of His Son. This means I need to spend time meditating on His work in my life. Richard Foster’s “Celebration of Discipline” defines meditation as “contemplative prayer.” He also states that “Christian meditation, very simply, is the ability to hear God’s voice and obey his word.” Christian meditation is not Eastern meditation. “Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an attempt to fill the mind.” We seek not to detach from all but to attach ourselves in deep meaningful way to our Father.
So, before I start writing post again, I need and I desire to emerge myself in the work of Holy Spirit in my life. To understand on a deeper level the will and direction of God in me. I am hoping to write about the result of this communion with God and other biblical topics soon. Please be patient and be praying for me and all of us here at Cultivating Faith.
Until the next time we see you here at CultivatingFaith.org, God Bless! #CultivatingFaithOrg