What's Under the Sauce?

For Titus Women this month I am going to be teaching ladies how to make homemade salsa and spaghetti sauce (hopefully - the tomatoes are still not ripe!)

So I wanted to share the devotional I will be reading there.

What's Under The Sauce?

Imagine being served a lovely plate of spaghetti and it looks wonderful, you just can't wait to dig in but as you look at it a little closer you notice that something is very, very wrong. The "spaghetti noodles" are wiggling! Yuck! What a nightmare that would be! Something that looked so good on the surface was actually something vile when you looked closer.

This kind of thing can so easily happen in our spiritual lives. How easy it is to be led astray by something or someone that looks good on the surface. That is why the Bible warns us in 1 John 4:1 "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because, many false prophets are gone out into the world."

So how can we try the spirits? By knowing what your Bible says. The Bible is our guide read it daily, know it, think about it. By doing this you will soon be able to recognize when what you are being told is true or not. When someone tells you something or you read something somewhere check it in your Bible to see if it is true. Don't just accept it because it looks good on the surface. Don't just eat the wiggling spaghetti!

The Bible tells us that there will be a time when when people will love wiggly spaghetti. 2 Tim. 4:3,4 says "For a time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables." I believe this is already happening and we need to guard against it happening to us.

What about our lives? Do they look good on the surface but are not underneath? Are we one person on Sundays at church and another in our private lives? Are we fully living for God? What is under our surface? Does it wiggle?

One thing women seem to fall prey to over and over again is gossip and slander. What comes out of our mouths comes out of our hearts. We need to pray for help, forgiveness and a clean heart filled with love for others. Before we say anything we need to look at our motives honestly. Is what I am about to say about someone going to hurt them? Would I say it if they were standing there? Am I saying it to make myself look better? Is it really a prayer request or am I just dying to share a bit of juicy gossip? Am I speaking out of anger or frustration? We need to be honest with ourselves and if what I am about to say fits any of those categories then I need to be quiet.

Another area that is so prevalent in our times is living half in the world and half for God. We need to think to ourselves if Jesus was sitting beside me would I watch this movie? Would I listen to this music? Would I go to this concert? Would I be speaking this way? Jesus is always beside us. Rev. 3:15-16 says "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm I will vomit you out of my mouth." Are we fully living for God or not?

Then there are the works of the flesh mentioned in Gal. 19 - adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions dissensions and heresies.

I am sure you already know if your life is wiggling. There is One though who is always good and He loves us no matter what and is always ready to forgive us when we turn from what is wrong and ask for forgiveness.

Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.

Blessings,
Liisa