My day began a few minutes ago with a cup of Door County Hazelnut Coffee and some prayer. I was outside for a minute with our dog and it seems like there isn't any air moving at all. Very peculiar for an October day.
I like to cook and I own my share of cook books. I also have many recipes saved from newspapers or ones given to me by acquaintances, family and friends. I have specialties that I like to make and I lean toward Italian dishes. Each recipe comes with a list of ingredients and instructions on how to assemble and then cook the dish.
One thing that all the recipes have in common is that there is one main ingredient and the rest of the ingredients are there to make the main one taste better. In some instances you can substitute the minor ingredients with something else or eliminate them all together and the main dish will still taste good. But without the main ingredient the dish is a flop.
Life is like that also. We can do many things, accumulate many things, say many things, think many thinks but without the Main Ingredient we have a life without meaning or direction. That One Main Ingredient is Jesus Christ the Author and Finisher of our Faith and life. Without Him as the purpose for our deeds, thoughts and reason to have things we miss out on making the dish of our life have meaning and one that lasts for eternity.
Jesus states his mission clearly. Matthew 7:21-23New American Standard Bible (NASB)
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many [a]miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
He adds to this message the secret to the recipe.
John 14:1-13New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Jesus the Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Best thing anyone could ever do!
ReplyDeleteAmen Brother
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