Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will. Roman 12: 2 (NIV)
Cooking is my thinking place: a place where I have time to collect my thoughts, draw inspiration while perfecting my cooking skills. Cooking has enabled me to multitask. Over the years, I have perfected some dishes that have a special connection. Every chance I get, I have attempted to perfect a dish that needs a bit of tweaking, an addition of a new ingredient, reducing some spices, adding ingredients in a particular order or cooking for a set amount of time, because that dish holds a special place in my heart. I wasn’t satisfied until I’ve achieved the taste that has been embedded in my brain. The ones that I’ve perfected are now done with precision that I don’t even have to think hard on. They are easy to prepare and every time they come out perfect. How do I know that it is perfect? Well, my family approves with a big thumbs up and a mouthful!
This got me to thinking about my walk with Jesus. I’ve been a believer for quite some time. I believe that I’ve made some progress in my faith. I’ve tried, tested and tasted how faithful my Savior is. There were several times, when all I could say or do was a big thumbs up when God answered prayer or provided in a supernatural way. He is perfect in all His ways!
On the other hand, there are times when I feel I am not going anywhere: standstill and sometimes dismayed. I feel so imperfect. With the Holy Spirit’s prompting, I reevaluate my approach in my walk with the Lord. I return to my thinking place and analyze the reasons of my stagnation. I notice that I’ve returned to some of my old worldly ways of doing things or thinking. I’ve been influenced by the world around me so much that I’ve failed to differentiate between truth and fallacy. For certain the amount of time I should have spent at Jesus’ feet on bended knee has been reduced to naught.
At this juncture, I am ready for some tweaking in my spiritual life. As the Holy Spirit leads me, I add some new ingredients in my prayer life like praying more, reading the Bible more and listening to good Christian music. I reduce some ingredients that are influencing my walk by not paying much attention to worldly influences. I’ve reset my time by spending longer time reading the Word from the Bible and not reading other literature. Such corrections have reestablished my faith.
In our walk with Christ, such reevaluations are necessary. When we feel stagnated, our prayers not being answered and our fasting without results should drive us to succumb to the tweaking of the Holy Spirit. God always answers prayers for He is faithful and perfect in all of His ways! We are the ones who fail to test and approve His good, pleasing and perfect will. He is willing to transform us only when we surrender to His correction. Only then can we see the results of His perfection. Let us persevere in reevaluating our spiritual walk with our Lord so we won’t be conformed to the influences of this world but be transformed by renewing our minds. Only then we will able to give big thumbs up to God’s perfect will!
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