Corona Devo 158

As new campers, our family is figuring things out on the fly and by recommendation of others.  We recently got an outdoor griddle.  It’s basically like an oversized electric frying pan for the outdoors.  It comes highly recommended and is supposed to create yummy culinary delights while we are in the great outdoors.

As with any new appliance, there was an instruction manual.  The longest part of the book was dedicated to “seasoning” the griddle.  I learned that it is a critical first step, and will affect the outcome of each meal you make…favorably if done correctly. 

As I studied the process of seasoning our griddle, and then sat down for some time in the Bible with Jesus, I realized a correlation between us and griddles.   

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.  ~Matthew 5:8

The first step in seasoning the griddle is heating it up (hot!), and letting it just sit for a while, being hot.  Then you pour some oil over the griddle and rub it in over the bottom and sides.  Then, you let it sit and be hot.

Lord, cover us with You.  Pour over us like a coating of oil that spreads and reaches all of our corners and crannies.  Coat us with Your perspective, Your patience, Your peace…and let it purify us.  The world and sin "heat" us up.  We are impure we “burn” things and people in our lives easily because of our selfish responses and actions.  Purify us and make us more like You.  Make our hearts pure, we want to see you, Lord.  

Back to the griddle--after you have let the surface heat up, poured the oil, spread the oil and let it reheat again (melding the oil into the cooktop), you do the whole process again.

That’s just how it is for me with my spiritual walk with the Lord.   I read the Bible, I love what God says to me, and I get it.  It soaks in.  I become “coated” with His truth and peace, and He purifies me.  I am “seasoned” by Jesus and when I am in that frame-of-mind, my eyes are more fully open to see Him and His will playing out in my life.  God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.  ~Matthew 5:8

But then life happens.  As the hours (or minutes!) wear on, my “Jesus coating” wears thin, and I see less of God, and more of my impurities and the impurities of others.  They crop up like flies in my ointment.

In the “seasoning instructions” for the griddle, we are to scrape away any crumbs or impurities that appear on the griddle top, so that they don’t bake in to the coated top that you are creating.

Lord, please continually scrape away the impatience and impurities in our lives that are formed as a result of day-to-day life.  We don’t want those things to become permanently lodged in our hearts and spirits.  We want you, Lord. 

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.  ~Matthew 5:8

Lord, we come before you today, and submit to Your will in our lives.  Wipe us clean and purify our internal and external surfaces.

Back to the griddle--Do you know what the next steps are when continuing to season the griddle?  REPEAT.  Repeat the whole process another 3 to 5 times: Keep heating the griddle, pour oil over, rub the oil in everywhere, and let it bake into the griddle top.  Repeat.

It’s just like our spiritual walks and lives with Jesus!  We have to get in a rhythm of meeting with the Lord.  Repeatedly each day.  We have to coat ourselves with Him and His teachings, so that we have a Jesus layer over us and our lives.  We have to be aware and recognize our impurities and remove them as they crop up, with God’s help. 

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.  ~Matthew 5:8

 And so just like "seasoning" a griddle is a critical first step, and will affect the outcome of each meal you make…favorably if done correctly: we must be seasoned with Christ to have pure hearts and to see God.  It will affect the outcome of each day that we live....favorably if done correctly. 

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com 

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