A RECIPE THAT PLEASES GOD

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”  (Matthew 5:8)

When I was in grade school, we had a game in our neighborhood. We’d raid the pantry and find all kinds of food to mix in a blender. We’d put in eggs, peanut butter, ketchup, mustard, cottage cheese, and anything else we could get our hands on. Surprisingly enough, my mother was okay with this, as long as we followed two rules:

            1. Everything we put into the blender had to be edible. No dirt, rocks, or metal. Items like shaving cream fell into a gray area.

            2. We had to eat one spoonful of the final concoction.

That’s why this game quickly lost its appeal. We got results that looked and smelled awful, and tasted even worse.

Sometimes I wonder if my heart resembles our blender game. It’s certainly not pure and unmixed. What about you? What ingredients have you poured into the blender of your heart?

The New Testament has a lot to say about the kinds of things we put inside us. For example Paul tells us, “Whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8) When you pour in the right ingredients and avoid the others, you find it’s a recipe that pleases God.

-- Kyle Idleman in “The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins”

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