Homemade Burgers

I must be on a cooking binge or something like that lately as I immediately thought about the meal I cooked last night while reading from 1 Timothy 1:14 this morning!  In reference to his former life and the hurtful things that he inflicted on Christians and his Savior’s reaction to them Paul wrote: “Christ Jesus our Lord was very kind to me.  He has greatly blessed my life with faith and love just like his own.” (Contemporary English Version)

After I read this verse I notated in my study notebook that, “Faith and love go hand in hand.  One can’t work without the other.”  Then I considered how those two ingredients have to be blended into the daily affairs of our lives in order for us to make a positive impact in our lives as well as in those we come into contact with throughout each day.

And that’s when I thought of last night’s dinner!  Since I had some hamburger left over from the previous night’s menu of stuffed zucchini, I decided to make a couple of homemade burgers.  But instead of just having plain old burgers, I spiced up the recipe by blending in some herbs and spices, onions, an egg and some bread crumbs.  Now, I probably could have just topped the burgers with those additions, but I wanted the meat to really capture the flavor of the added ingredients.  I had also read somewhere that whenever you work with hamburger meat that you should always let it “rest” for a while when done shaping it into patties in order for the meat to solidify and absorb the taste of the spices or marinade.  So I let the two patties “rest” for about a half an hour before tossing them in the frying pan.

The above scripture talks about two important ingredients that Paul said made a difference in the recipe of his life.  In fact this translation says that the addition of faith and love will make our lives to be like Jesus!  Galatians 5:6 declares “But what matters is a faith that expresses itself through love.” (God’s Word ©) 

Faith and love are two foundational ingredients that perfectly flavor the recipe of our lives!  While both of these ingredients have a unique flavor on their own, they just work or shall I say “taste” better when carefully and purposely blended together into our personal disposition.  Just like the added ingredients turned plain old burgers into a flavorable treat to my taste buds last night!

Faith is a strong foundation for our Christian beliefs, but needs the love of God blended in with it so that we can stay on track when things do not seem to be going as they should.  His love in us helps us to trust Him through thick and thin and propels our faith beyond our own physical limitations. Faith and love are also the ingredients that keep us strong when others might come against us at some point in our lives.  Faith blended with love is the spice in us that can draw others to Christ!

So think about it…  Do you want your life to be like a “Plain Jane” boring burger, or do you want it to be a flavorful, spicy – taste that you won’t soon forget – super burger?  I choose SUPER-BURGER!  Oh gosh… now I’m getting hungry and I just finished breakfast!!!  I guess that is what the spicy life that is blended with faith and love is all about.  It leaves you and others wanting more of God!  Have a great day.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”