Follow The Recipe

A friend was coming over for tea.
She was going to stop over before going to work.
I told her the tea would be ready.
I was looking forward to a refreshing morning of conversation.

Tea by itself is fine, but when a friend comes to sit and talk, a bit more is needed.
I decided that I would bake my five grain breakfast bread that is healthy and delicious.
The house always smells so good when this breakfast bread is baking.
The smell of cinnamon seems to permeate every corner and crevice.

I knew that my friend would be over quite early.
After I showered and got dressed, I went downstairs.
I decided to bake the bread before I finished getting ready.
I was thinking about so many things as I made the breakfast bread and was a bit distracted.

I set the table for the two of us.
I went upstairs to finish getting ready.
My music was playing and the smell of cinnamon was beginning to waft upstairs.
Even my candle in the kitchen could not compare to this wonderful aroma.

Before she came I opened the oven door and checked on my breakfast bread.
The top of the bread seemed moister than usual.
I knew that I had used a different organic honey and decided that must be the reason.
I smiled as I took a deep breath and breathed in the delicious cinnamon.

The doorbell rang with only another three minutes on the oven timer.
We hugged and came into the kitchen.
It smells wonderful in here, she said.
I was glad that someone else was blessed by the welcoming aroma.

The timer beeped.
I opened the oven and put my oven mitts on my hands.
The delicious breakfast bread that I make all the time did not look right.
It smelled the same but it looked very different.

Something’s not right with this bread, I said thinking of the other things I could offer her.
I’m sure its delicious, she said but I wasn’t so sure.
I had organic yogurt and granola.
I had some of this same bread left over from a few days ago.

I made everything look as presentable as I could.
Somehow with friends, it doesn’t matter.
You could serve things on paper plates and a true friend would not care.
It was a lovely morning in every way.

When she got up to gather her things, I had a thought.
I went to my pantry and got out the five grain container and turned it over.
The recipe for this delicious breakfast bread was on the back.
I know what I did! I exclaimed, not believing that I made such a mistake.

It was not the new organic honey that I used.
It was a forgotten ingredient.
One forgotten ingredient.
I forgot the wheat flour.

How could I make a breakfast bread and forget the flour?
The batter looked the same since the five grains added the bulk that was needed.
I must have been distracted.
I must have been doing things too fast and totally missed a line of the recipe.

I missed a very important line of the recipe.
There was no substance to my breakfast bread.
By all appearances, the bread seemed the same.
However, to a discerning eye something was just not right.

We laughed about it.
Well, the house smells good anyway, we both agreed.
It smelled good; it looked the same.
Almost.

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:14)

We have a Book that we must follow.
Unfortunately, many do not even know what God’s Word says.
Many lay claim to the Bible but they are only paying it lip service.
God knows the difference.

I was distracted and forgot an ingredient in my recipe.
The breakfast bread smelled the same as the aroma wafted through the house.
However, the breakfast bread was not the same because it was missing one ingredient.
It was the ingredient that held it all together.

My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6)

My breakfast bread unfortunately needed to be thrown away.
My wonderful recipe was destroyed because I forgot one ingredient.
People are being destroyed because there is a lack of knowledge of God’s Word.
Biblical illiteracy is destroying our nation.

We are making up our own recipe as we go along.
The result is disastrous.
There is nothing to hold us together.
We are distracted and we are making terrible mistakes.

We need to get out the Book.
We need to read God’s Word and do what it says.
We cannot concoct our own recipe for living.
We are systematically destroying all that we hold dear.

Follow the directions in God’s Word.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Submit to Him, obey Him, and worship Him.
He alone deserves our praise.

Biblical illiteracy is destroying our nation.
Like my breakfast bread, we need to start over.
We need to pray against distraction and focus on what God says.
We need to read God’s Word and obey it.

We need to follow God’s recipe.
We need to become Biblically literate again.
Only then will we be able to discern good from evil.
Only then will we have the aroma of Christ wafting through our lives.

2 responses to “Follow The Recipe”

1. You’re so right! So many people leave out the one thing that holds them together in every life situation–God! They must be willing to have a life that is not as complete as it was meant to be. I truly believe there is a part of us that can only be filled by our God; it’s just that many people don’t know it.

   Reply

   • Yes, Sue, the main ingredient is God. We must have a knowledge of Him and His Word. Biblical illiteracy is destroying us and our nation. We must turn back to Him.
     Gina

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