Fresh Baked!

I had a conversation with one of my cousins over the weekend in which, among many other things, we discussed the baking of homemade bread!  She recalled how she used to make it on a weekly basis when first married many years past.  That got me to remembering the multitude of times that I walked into our little two-bedroom home on Will Scarlet Lane and immediately had my senses overcome with the unmistakable aroma of fresh baked whole wheat bread flowing throughout the house.

That must have been a thing among young wives in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s for them both to be unknowingly (I think?) enjoying a similar domestic hobby.  Just thinking about biting into a thick sliced, warm and butter-smeared piece of bread fresh out of the oven gets my mouth to watering.  Piper used to experiment with different baking pans when she was in her prime bread baking days.  I never quite knew what shape my sandwich was going to be when I opened my bag at work. 

Most times it was normal bread-slice-shaped, albeit much thicker and slightly unevenly cut… but at other times it could be round from the coffee cans she also used, square from some other baking tins or who-knows-what-shape from whatever container happened to catch her fancy when she was ready to pop the dough into the oven.  One thing that I ALWAYS knew though, was how that first bite was going to taste… Unbelievably Delicious!

So, what if the slice was an inch or thicker at one end and a half of an inch at the other end… anyway she sliced it… it was mouthwatering to me.  One thing that I did notice beyond all the accolades that I could sing about Piper’s homemade bread,  was that it just didn’t seem to stay as fresh for as long as the store-bought breads did.  I would assume that it was most likely a good thing as her bread didn’t contain any of the questionable preservatives added to the commercial brands so as to sustain a longer shelf life.

If Piper made bread on Monday, by Thursday my sandwiches were getting a little harder to bite into… and by the weekend… well, let’s just say that I am glad that my teeth were in such good shape back then!  But the extra strength needed for the bite and the chewing exercise were well worth all that good taste!  I only wish that I had that problem on my hands… or should I say, my teeth… today!

Well, did you know that the Psalmist wrote about a similar situation in Psalm 98:1?  The only difference being that instead of talking about homemade bread, he spoke of fresh baked praise unto God!  Now you might ask what I mean when I say fresh baked praise… It’s actually quite simple.  It is praise that is baked fresh inside of you every day by your personal time spent in God’s Word and the resulting singing of a NEW SONG unto to Him!  It comes from a heart that has been renewed with FRESH time in God’s Word and in daily prayer that results in being so overcome with the unmistakable aroma of His goodness, that all you can do is begin to let it out by singing a fresh NEW SONG of praise to Him.

Just like when I walked into the house while or soon after Piper popped a loaf of her homemade whole wheat bread into that 1950’s era, white gas stove that my Grandmother had loved to cook with!  Being overcome with all that goodness made me immediately begin to sing her praises… and highly anticipate savoring that first warm slice.

Psalm 98:1 tells us to, “Sing a new song to the LORD because he has done miraculous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gained victory for him.”  (God's Word ©)  As we talked about last week, the phrase “NEW SONG” translates in the original Hebrew as “fresh.”  The Greek word describes it as “new, especially in freshness.”  So, what is he trying to tell us?  Simply that our praises unto the Lord need to be a fresh and new event each and every day.

I’ve discovered over the years that it is hard to get a fresh blessing with left over revelations… just like the bread that gets harder and harder each day after it originally was baked.  As Christians we should be… or maybe I should say… NEED to be fellowshipping with the Lord in His Word every day, similar to a strong marriage where the husband and wife take the time to fellowship with each other each day throughout their lives.

Looking back on Piper’s and my, soon to be, forty-eight years together (5 dating/engaged and 43 married), that I can’t think of more than a hand full of days when I was away from home for ministry reasons, when we couldn’t communicate.  And I can guarantee that part of that communication included the heart-felt words “I love you!”  I can’t possibly imagine not talking with the love of my life each day… and the same can be said for my fellowshipping with my heavenly Father.

I therefore believe… in line with what the Psalmist declared… that a daily NEW SONG unto the Lord is important for us so that it is fresh and of the heart for TODAY’S experiences.  It is not something that is leftover from yesterday’s blessings.  Each day our communication and faith in, with and for God should be new – FRESH, otherwise we are only going by what our heads remember from the last NEW SONG we sung unto the Lord in the past.

So, what would you rather have… a FRESH slice of warm blessing slathered with the sweet delicious Word of God, or a slice from past days that is getting cold and hard?  The longer you eat the cold hard bread, the harder it is to remember what it is like to have a fresh-from-the-oven, melt-in-your-mouth warm and delicious piece of home baked bread!

Go ahead… give it a bite… and you’ll never go back to the stale stuff again!

Have a great new week ahead, and as you do, keep asking yourself… “Am I expecting a FRESH warm slice of God’s Word today?”  YUMMMMMMMMMM….