God the Microwave, God the Crockpot
My thought for the day.....
I was at church the other day - the Tri-County Vineyard - and the speaker, Andy Ransdell was speaking about marriage. To illustrate one of the differences between men and women sexually, at one point he brought out a crockpot and a microwave. Now, I know I have heard this sort of comparison before and you probably have too: the woman is the crockpot and the man is the mic. In terms of sexual intimacy, the man is like - BOING!! Ready to go just like that, no matter what negative or positive things have been going on during the day. As for the woman however, although she desires closeness and intimacy, the ingredients for it have to have been preparing all day long, perhaps all week or month long! Otherwise, no can do sex. Well, all that is a generalization and I have found myself on both sides of that analogy at different times. However, generalizations in my opinion can be useful if they are right most of the time, and I believe this one, while it may not describe everyone everytime, describes most of us most of the time.
That's just the lead-in for my thought for the day. As sexually frustrated and messed up as I am, this entry actually isn't about sex. It's about our relationship with God. Think about how God is: would you describe Him as a crockpot, a microwave, both or neither? I was listening to one of the christian radio stations the other night on my way home from work, and I heard one of those short one or two minute devotional thoughts for the day things. The guy said that in our instant-world of everything, we can't expect our relationship with God to happen that way. Short 30 second prayers here and there and little scraps of our time will not by themselves build a strong, happy healthy relationship with our Father and Jesus.
Now his comments and Andy Ransdell's analogy got me to thinking. Being the politically correct guy that I am - NOT - I thought, "God encompasses the traits of both male and female." And so I thought further, "I think God is actually both the crockpot and the microwave." We know from His Word that at any point He is willing to welcome us back into His loving arms no matter what we've done. In fact, Jesus used the parable of the Lost Sheep to illustrate not just how God is waiting for his lost ones, but He is actually out searching for us when we stray! He told Peter to forgive his brother seven times seventy times. How much more is God's mercy! He says in Isaiah or one of the Psalms, that He removes our sins as far as East is from the West!
We could've just done some dastardly sick sin, and in the split second after we've done it and can say "God, I've just sinned, please forgive me," our slate is wiped clean with Him. I'm not making that up, it's in the Bible. To me that is hard to believe that He could so instantaneously forgive us so completely; you know, the number of times I ask for forgiveness for a specific sin is often in proportion to how awful I think the sin is. Getting impatient and maybe saying something I shouldn't while driving behind a slow driver - one forgiveness request. Gossiping - guys only gossip every once in a while - maybe two requests to be forgiven. Looking at stuff online or chatting with someone online about things I shouldn't - multiple multiple requests for forgiveness. But according to the Bible, that's not how our Father or His system works. We confess, ask His forgiveness, and all of a sudden we are clean before Him again. Amazing! Free to get back up off the ground or out of the muck we just fell into, and start living for Him again. Wow! In this way, God is definitely a microwave, actually much, much faster than any microwave I know. Except for Bob the Microwave.....I'm just kidding, I don't know or have any microwaves for friends. Point is, in regard to His desire to be in relationship with us, to restore us back to Him, He is so much more instant than anything or anybody on planet Earth!
Now, the crockpot. So, we've been forgiven, countless times by Him and restored. I would guess that most christians would say they would like a close relationship with our Father and Jesus. Would you? I know I want mine to be that way. If yours already is this way, I am happy for you. But I think for me and many others, we are somewhere short of that. We want the awesome relationship with Him, but we don't want to put the work into it. We are lazy or distracted or whatever other excuses we throw up in our defense. Think for a minute of someone that you would really like to be much closer to but they have hurt you deeply......time's up. Now, imagine, that person comes to you and says they are soooo sorry for what they have done to hurt you, they want things to be right with you, they care about their relationship with you, they love you, blah blah blah. You know they are at least somewhat sincere. Will you forgive them? Probably. Will you be grateful and maybe even feel a few warm fuzzies because they are making an effort to make things right again? Probably. The next day they call you up and say hi and you talk for 30 seconds while they are driving or getting ready for work. They do this for the next several days. You're going to feel soooo close to them again and everything is going to be all better, right? Nope. Even though you maybe even forgave them before they came and asked for it, and even though you desire desperately to see the relationship completely healed, you know that intimacy must be nourished and grown over time. Even if someone hasn't hurt you deeply, still intimacy takes time. We would be fools to think that just because we spend 30 seconds everyday talking with someone, they are now our bestest buds and we can share anything and everything about ourselves with them and loan them our car and give them a key to our home, etc.
Deep lasting trust and closeness come over time through a lot of contact, communication and seeing each other in a lot of different situations. Think of your closest friends. The ones you really count on have been with you in good, bad, neutral times, have been happy for you, loved you, been angry with you, sad with you, disappointed in themselves and in you at times. You have experienced each other through thick and thin and with every "communion" you have with each other, you become more intimate. Even some of the bad experiences can in the long run make the two of you closer if you allow them to.
So, if that's how it is in our closest human relationships - male and female - why should we think our relationship with God is any different? In the words of Paul in Galatians, we reap what we sow. You want a good relationship with God or another person on earth, you put the time and the effort into it. No way around it.
Our Father is more microwavy in His love and willingness to forgive us than anything we can think of in our instant society. Our Father is crockpot-like in how a good relationship is built with Him over time. These are my long-winded thoughts for the day. Do you have any? In 30 seconds or less of course :)
I was at church the other day - the Tri-County Vineyard - and the speaker, Andy Ransdell was speaking about marriage. To illustrate one of the differences between men and women sexually, at one point he brought out a crockpot and a microwave. Now, I know I have heard this sort of comparison before and you probably have too: the woman is the crockpot and the man is the mic. In terms of sexual intimacy, the man is like - BOING!! Ready to go just like that, no matter what negative or positive things have been going on during the day. As for the woman however, although she desires closeness and intimacy, the ingredients for it have to have been preparing all day long, perhaps all week or month long! Otherwise, no can do sex. Well, all that is a generalization and I have found myself on both sides of that analogy at different times. However, generalizations in my opinion can be useful if they are right most of the time, and I believe this one, while it may not describe everyone everytime, describes most of us most of the time.
That's just the lead-in for my thought for the day. As sexually frustrated and messed up as I am, this entry actually isn't about sex. It's about our relationship with God. Think about how God is: would you describe Him as a crockpot, a microwave, both or neither? I was listening to one of the christian radio stations the other night on my way home from work, and I heard one of those short one or two minute devotional thoughts for the day things. The guy said that in our instant-world of everything, we can't expect our relationship with God to happen that way. Short 30 second prayers here and there and little scraps of our time will not by themselves build a strong, happy healthy relationship with our Father and Jesus.
Now his comments and Andy Ransdell's analogy got me to thinking. Being the politically correct guy that I am - NOT - I thought, "God encompasses the traits of both male and female." And so I thought further, "I think God is actually both the crockpot and the microwave." We know from His Word that at any point He is willing to welcome us back into His loving arms no matter what we've done. In fact, Jesus used the parable of the Lost Sheep to illustrate not just how God is waiting for his lost ones, but He is actually out searching for us when we stray! He told Peter to forgive his brother seven times seventy times. How much more is God's mercy! He says in Isaiah or one of the Psalms, that He removes our sins as far as East is from the West!
We could've just done some dastardly sick sin, and in the split second after we've done it and can say "God, I've just sinned, please forgive me," our slate is wiped clean with Him. I'm not making that up, it's in the Bible. To me that is hard to believe that He could so instantaneously forgive us so completely; you know, the number of times I ask for forgiveness for a specific sin is often in proportion to how awful I think the sin is. Getting impatient and maybe saying something I shouldn't while driving behind a slow driver - one forgiveness request. Gossiping - guys only gossip every once in a while - maybe two requests to be forgiven. Looking at stuff online or chatting with someone online about things I shouldn't - multiple multiple requests for forgiveness. But according to the Bible, that's not how our Father or His system works. We confess, ask His forgiveness, and all of a sudden we are clean before Him again. Amazing! Free to get back up off the ground or out of the muck we just fell into, and start living for Him again. Wow! In this way, God is definitely a microwave, actually much, much faster than any microwave I know. Except for Bob the Microwave.....I'm just kidding, I don't know or have any microwaves for friends. Point is, in regard to His desire to be in relationship with us, to restore us back to Him, He is so much more instant than anything or anybody on planet Earth!
Now, the crockpot. So, we've been forgiven, countless times by Him and restored. I would guess that most christians would say they would like a close relationship with our Father and Jesus. Would you? I know I want mine to be that way. If yours already is this way, I am happy for you. But I think for me and many others, we are somewhere short of that. We want the awesome relationship with Him, but we don't want to put the work into it. We are lazy or distracted or whatever other excuses we throw up in our defense. Think for a minute of someone that you would really like to be much closer to but they have hurt you deeply......time's up. Now, imagine, that person comes to you and says they are soooo sorry for what they have done to hurt you, they want things to be right with you, they care about their relationship with you, they love you, blah blah blah. You know they are at least somewhat sincere. Will you forgive them? Probably. Will you be grateful and maybe even feel a few warm fuzzies because they are making an effort to make things right again? Probably. The next day they call you up and say hi and you talk for 30 seconds while they are driving or getting ready for work. They do this for the next several days. You're going to feel soooo close to them again and everything is going to be all better, right? Nope. Even though you maybe even forgave them before they came and asked for it, and even though you desire desperately to see the relationship completely healed, you know that intimacy must be nourished and grown over time. Even if someone hasn't hurt you deeply, still intimacy takes time. We would be fools to think that just because we spend 30 seconds everyday talking with someone, they are now our bestest buds and we can share anything and everything about ourselves with them and loan them our car and give them a key to our home, etc.
Deep lasting trust and closeness come over time through a lot of contact, communication and seeing each other in a lot of different situations. Think of your closest friends. The ones you really count on have been with you in good, bad, neutral times, have been happy for you, loved you, been angry with you, sad with you, disappointed in themselves and in you at times. You have experienced each other through thick and thin and with every "communion" you have with each other, you become more intimate. Even some of the bad experiences can in the long run make the two of you closer if you allow them to.
So, if that's how it is in our closest human relationships - male and female - why should we think our relationship with God is any different? In the words of Paul in Galatians, we reap what we sow. You want a good relationship with God or another person on earth, you put the time and the effort into it. No way around it.
Our Father is more microwavy in His love and willingness to forgive us than anything we can think of in our instant society. Our Father is crockpot-like in how a good relationship is built with Him over time. These are my long-winded thoughts for the day. Do you have any? In 30 seconds or less of course :)
posted by wwiiguy at 7:19 AM
1 Comments:
Amen again.
I especially love the image you gave of someone who messed things up saying sorry and then for the next week calling you and chatting all buddy-buddy for 30 seconds a day. LOL
It makes me think about how the apology is necessary for the block to be removed, but the fact of the damage that was caused by whatever sin was done is still there and can only be repaired through humility and patience and time spent rebuilding the relationship. This is true for humans... and would make sense in terms of our relationship with God too, since we carry our humanity into that relationship.
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