I made some yeast rolls a while back and they were terrible. I was so disappointed with them. The yeast must have expired because they barely rose to the top of the muffin pans. I put them in the oven anyway, but they really didn’t taste all that great. Heavy. From now on I will make sure the yeast has a current date before I mix the dough, otherwise I might as well serve cardboard.
Do you think Christians can be like those yeast rolls?
I thought about how we have the Lord living within us to grow us in His grace. I considered how we need to feed our spirit through prayer, through praise, through fellowship with other believers, and by reading His word. How dated can our lives become when we cling to a testimony from many years ago to pacify ourselves that our faith in Christ is strong and capable of rising to an occasion of distress? Do we tell stories of how God was once manifested in our lives, but have nothing to share about today, or yesterday? Does our faith show us faithful? Does our diligence reveal our perseverance? There’s hope.
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13
God continues to work within us to will the right outcome, to work properly in all situations. Christians have an ever-present, ever-living, ever-guiding spirit to bring about success for His good pleasure. Though we may lack faith, or bend beneath a load of circumstances that weighs upon our hearts, God’s grace is sufficient to meet our needs–our needs for God’s pleasure. What peace there is in knowing while we may mess up, God continues to work. Unlike useless yeast that has no effect on a bowl of dough, God is eternally useful and sustaining.
PRAYER: Thank you, Lord, for the blessing of Your grace. Thank you for Your eternal presence and mercy in my life. Be manifested in me this day. Let me rise to Your occasion, and be the sacrifice of praise You love to breathe through me.
© Hariette Petersen, SelahV Today, 2010
