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Listen while you read: "Thy Way Not Mine O Lord"1
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Psalm 34:8a – Taste and see that the Lord is good. (NLT)
Recently, I watched a webinar aired by Osteoporosis Canada featuring a recipe for Chicken Shawarma Meatballs being prepared and cooked. All that was missing was the delicious smell emanating out of the oven! I confess that meal preparation is sometimes tedious for me. I tend to cook the same dinner meals over and over. This recipe looked interesting, and I looked forward to trying it on my family.
Assembling my ingredients, I noticed that some of the spices in the recipe were not ones usually found in my cupboard or were too stale to use. My husband kindly shopped at the bulk food store to replenish my supply. I was surprised at the needed quantities of smoked paprika, cumin, and ground coriander: one or two teaspoons each. Other ingredients were also ones I would not normally think of putting into meatballs.
The presenter instructed, "Get your hands in there and mix the meat and spices really well." She then baked the meatballs in a hot oven with red onion and colourful sliced peppers.
As we dug in to our own meatball dish, I marvelled at the amazing blend of flavours. I didn't think I liked cumin that much, and cinnamon was certainly not a spice I would use in meatballs, but the end effect was delicious! Spices transformed my usual bland meatballs into something exotic.
Spices add something different and noticeable to something ordinary that they come in contact with. In order to share Christ with the non-believing world, we need spices in our lives so that we are different and noticeable. People generally have no idea what God is really like. They don't go to church, or read the Bible for themselves. When we Christians are different, people watch us to see how we react to the circumstances of life.
What are the spices that transform us on the inside, making us different from those who don't believe? On the foundation of the unique qualities that God put into us at conception, He adds spiritual gifts that influence how we relate to others. We may not think that a certain spice is what we need in our lives, but our all-knowing God sees it in His plan for us. When we believe, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us. Then "the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23a NLT)
Let us allow God to increase all these components in our lives, as He carefully mixes and blends our seasonings together, so that we can impact the world for Him!
Prayer: Lord, thank You for blending in us the ingredients that make us flavourful to the world. Help people to clearly see Your goodness through us. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
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About the author:
Alice Burnett <terrencera.burnett@gmail.com>
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
Send your feedback to the author
Thanks for the good word, Alice.
Very interesting. What a thought.
(Ontario)
I truly appreciated your devotional today. Thank you.
(On.)
Thank you for your unique look at sharing our faith! Also the recipe. God bless you!
Thank you so much for your excellent devotional today. And for including the recipe!
Thank you, Alice. Those meatballs are a good reminder of how we need to live our lives.
Thank-you Alice, this just fits amazingly with what I was talking about with a sister last night!!
Thank you for sharing this encouraging devotional with us today. To God be the glory! Blessings.
Thanks Alice. I really enjoyed your devotional today. I hope all is well with you and Terry. By the way, I’m not keen on cumin either.
Blessings on your day.
Alice, Your cooking adventure reminds me of our personal walk with God: it’s never bland. Your outdated, flavourless spices remind me of Christian habits which have lost their ability to convey the qualities of an amazing, vibrant God.
Spicy Alice
What a simple and wonderful devotion on faith and belief in the Lord.
Thank you.
Ps:
I would like your recipe for meatballs. My tastebuds and curiosity are asking.
Hi Alice, enjoyed your devotion. You certainly are a wonderful contributor to the Daily Devotion.
(and the recipe looks yummy. I think I will make it with a few modifications).
Hope you are both doing well.
Many thanks Alice for another of your special devotionals. Wow, those meatballs sound very tasty, and you made a great comparison of how God adds special extra “ingredients” to us when we take time to add more of His ways to our ways of daily life. Blessings for the very inspiring devotionals you write.
Good afternoon,
Thank you for this reading. It is amazing when you think of how different we can be but with the same ingredients that make us God’s family.
If it is possible, I would like to see that recipe sometime.
God bless.
Good morning, Alice!
Thanks for a very inspiring devotional today. I just loved how you shared the blending of seasonings to His adding spiritual gifts, the fruit of the Spirit in us, transforming us.
Amen to:
“Let us allow God to increase all these components in our lives, as He carefully mixes and blends our seasonings together, so that we can impact the world for Him!”
Blessings.
Good morning, Alice,
As someone who enjoys time in the kitchen cooking, baking, and especially trying new recipes, your devotion caught my attention today.
It is true that we often stay close to what we know and what is comfortable, missing opportunities to shine the light of Jesus into our communities and season our interactions with others with the Good News that brings richness to those who ‘taste and see that the Lord is good.’
Have a blessed day.