Here’s the scene: you put a dish of your favorite food in the microwave and as your tummy rumbles with hunger, you hear it popping and sizzling, taking in all those micro waves. With all the sound effects coming out of that 1,100 watt machine, you just know that when you take your food out of the microwave, it’s going to be ready to eat.

So, you take the dish out, sit it on the counter, stick your fork in it to get a bite — only to realize the center is still frozen.

This always sucks because you have to put the food back into the microwave for it to heat all the way through. The second time around, you stand there with your face inches away from the microwave… waiting. Those 2 minutes seem to take 20, don’t they?

Well, that’s the same thing that happens when we microwave our relationship with God. We put our lives (desires, dreams, wants, demands) in a microwave, press the 2:00 minute button and wait for the “ding!”, pretty confident that what we want we will get in just a matter of a half-hearted push of a button. Our sense of entitlement rears its head when we pull our spiritual dish out, pick up our fork of faith, and press down into a solid cold, frozen center, otherwise known as our heart.

All the right sound effects are there: the popping (hallelujah!) and sizzling (“I love me some Jesus!) but on the inside, our hearts are cold towards Him.

Revelation 3:15-16 tells us that God would much rather us be hot or cold towards Him — it’s the lukewarm (or half-cooked food – hot on the outside, cold on the inside) that He hates.

I know your [record of] works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot!
So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth! (Revelation 3:15-16 Amplified Version)

Here are two takeaways:

1. We have to learn to bake and roast. Microwaving our relationship with God does nothing but leave a cold, hard center. Baking and roasting allow for the Word to seep in, the juices to marinate, and for our hearts to warm up to the fiery outside we show the world. Nothing worth having in God can be cooked in a microwave.

2. Do a self check: what’s the temperature of your center? Rushing God’s will for your life can cause you to leave the cooking process earlier than you should. There’s nothing worse than having hot outsides (what you present to the world) and your heart lukewarm. It’s essential that we get our heart on fire for God and that our desires line up with His.

The best foods (and spiritual victories) come when we’re willing to bake a bit. Microwaved faith is for amateurs!

On the Chef Boyardee Chase,

Alisha L.