I’ve been doing a lot of baking lately. It gives me great satisfaction to provide sustenance from my own hands. Bread has just three ingredients…flour, water, salt. With these simple every day pantry items, you can bake bread without preservatives or additives and it tastes much better than anything you can buy in a shoppe.

I measure, add, stir, and knead the dough as I meditate on life. The good things and the challenging things. Sometimes I pick up a thought or phrase in my reading and writing that I mull over as I stretch and fold the dough. If you’ve made your own leaven by capturing the wild yeasts that create sourdough, it’s a much longer process to get that perfectly crispy, aromatic loaf that permeates the entire house. More effort for the work yields better results. (Colossians 3:23)

I listened to a short “sermon” from Trent Tribe on FB yesterday and it took me on a meditation on bread…specifically, the Bread of Life. Then I saw a meme from Kelsey Piggott that was brilliant…

“God gives us the ingredients for our daily bread…but He expects us to do the baking.”

We can read the Bible and thump our chests and scream from the rooftops about what good and faithful Christians we are. Or, we can quietly and calmly take Jesus at His word.

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” ‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬-‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Culture seems to be defining who a Christian is by warping and twisting the words and meanings of Scripture. The enemy can lure us into thinking we are doing God’s work when indeed…we may be doing just the opposite. 

Not every insight or vision comes from God. The Bible says that people should test spirits to see if they are from God, and not to believe every spirit. (1 John 4:1-21 ESV) There is something terribly wrong when a person of strong faith speaks scriptural tenets like love and compassion and kindness only to be ostracized and called nasty. Terribly wrong.

When we have the love of Jesus in our hearts, we are stepping out into the world every single day and representing Him. We have fed on the Bread of Life and that aroma follows us every step of our journey. Speaking goodness and light into the world can be met with anger and ugliness. It may even make us a target for hate. But please…don’t let that ever keep you from sharing your daily bread with others.

Remember, iron sharpens iron and we can improve each other through collaboration, feedback, and challenges. (Proverbs 27:17 ESV) Speaking out against injustices, discrimination, and downright meanness IS displaying the character of Jesus. 

🙏🏼

Blessed are the PEACEMAKERS, for they will be called the children of God. Matthew 5:9 ESV

***Gratitude Journal***
Today I am grateful for the opportunities God brings me to share Jesus with others who may not know Him. My experiences and the testimony of my journey to finding Him is the greatest gift I have ever received.

#Devotionals, #Kindness, #Jesus, #DailyBread