So here’s the thing with eating, feasting and cooking. You have to have ingredients. How do we get ingredients? Agriculture. Now, I am not going to get all wound up talking about ag, because many of you know I could go off on a tangent and write a blog that is term paper length on that topic. But in order to feed ourselves and others, we have to first GROW the ingredients.
Just like growing crops or basic household herbs, it all starts with a seed. When it comes to planting things in our brains, we can either plant something that is going to help us feast with God or eventually produce Devil’s food (and sadly not the cake.) “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)
Both types of seeds involve the same “soil” in our soul. For example: If we plant something productive, like wheat or corn (Godly thoughts), we can tend it with continual mediation and living a Christian life, then eventually produce food to feast with God. Similarly, if we plant something like a weed or musk thistle in our noggins (AKA negative, unGodly thoughts) and continue to dwell on it, that too will grow… which produces Devil’s food, and sets up a scenario for dining with the Devil.
I don’t say this kind of stuff to freak you out and make you panic. I just say it because I have (and still) fall victim to cultivating ingredients that creates Devil’s food. All it takes is one tiny thought or feeling in my heart of doubt, worry, or fear to draw my eyes away from heaven and focus inward. Like noxious weeds, the more I think on (aka fertilize and water) those things, the faster they grow, and the more food for the Devil is produced. And man, does that punk have an appetite!
So how do we make sure we are growing the right ingredients to dine with God as opposed to the enemy? Well, just like any agriculturalist, it is a full time job. We have to be able to recognize when those “weeds” start to grow and ask God for help to “pull” them. We also have to be aware that as our “ingredients” are closer to being used for our Godly feast, the Evil One doesn’t get ahold of them and make them mold or spoil. We can do this through Jesus, keeping our eyes focused on Him through prayer and placing our hope in Him as it says in Romans 13:14–“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”
Don’t think you have what it takes to “grow” those ingredients to feast with God and avoid feeding the devil? By the grace of God, it takes faith as small as a mustard seed to get the process started. “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.” (Matthew 13:31-32)
Grab your trowel, your big floppy hat and your seeds… We have a harvest to prepare for, and Satan isn’t on the guest list. No Devil’s food at this feast!
Growing with God,
SGK
“For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” Isaiah 61:11
