There is a constant pressure to do bigger and better things with your life. This mindset and the pressure that stems from it is intrinsically American and has bled into the vernacular of the church. Words of wisdom, yet again, from Thomas Watson's Art of Divine Contentment sheds light on what is wrong with this mindset. "Every man is complaining that his estate is no better, though he seldom complains that his heart is no better." What if we spent more time considering the state of our hearts rather than the state of our day planners? What if loving more means doing less? Paul spoke to this matter directly when he said "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) We can do all the right things but without love, most notably a love for the Lord that branches off into love of others, nothing we do will last. The attitudes of our hearts lend value to our actions. Two stories in the gospels highlight how different attitudes of the heart cause radical life change for better or worse.
First is the story of the rich young man, some translations refer to him as a rich young ruler. The story is recorded in both Matthew 19 and Mark 10. Here was a highly respected, wealthy man who had done all the right religious things. The thing about this kind of life is that the heart knows that it's not enough. If the young man had posed his questions about what more he needed to do to inherit eternal life to any other religious leader he would have received the very answer we'd expect; either he would have been told to do more or he would have been reassured that he was doing enough already. Not wanting the typical answers that he had made due with his whole life, the young man sought out the radical teacher who was causing a stir in Judea. In a sense he should not have been surprised that Jesus' answer challenged his whole schema. Though Jesus answered him in love, the answer the young man received broke his heart. "Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor...and come, follow me." What he needed to do was remove the obstacle in his heart that was keeping God from being first in his life. The thing that he lacked was a heart fully devoted to the Lord.
"And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: "Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother."' And he said to him, 'Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.' And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him,'You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.' Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions."
Mark 10:17-22
Conversely we see the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19. Here was a man who also had great wealth but he had come by it through dishonest means. A tax collector, Zacchaeus was considered a sellout by the Jewish community at large. Tax collectors worked on behalf of the occupying Roman government to bleed the Jews of what little financial stability they had. It was insanely easy for tax collectors to cheat their communities and take a huge cut of the profits for themselves. As long as Rome got what percentage they had mandated they cared very little about any underhandedness perpetuated by their employees.
Upon meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus' entire life changed. He had heard of the works and teachings of this Jesus and could not let this Great Teacher pass through his town without at least seeing him. As Christ passed the tree where the wee tax collector had stationed himself Jesus called him by name and invoked his hospitality. We are not told what they talked about at lunch that day but Zacchaeus was so transformed by simply being in the presence of Jesus that he radically changed everything about his life. He was still going to be a tax collector but he was going to be the most honest, generous and benevolent tax collector he could be. Zacchaeus was going to undo all the hurt he had done to his community as well as see to the care of the poor whom he had neglected. The result: "Jesus said to him 'Today salvation has come to this house'." Zacchaeus received Christ joyfully while the rich young man went away sorrowful. The attitudes of our hearts are revealed when we come face to face with the author of our salvation. The radical changes we are called to make in those moments are only hard when our vision is skewed by worldly cares. It was easy for either man to sell his possessions one simply held himself back from that which was greater.
Luke 19:1-10
"He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.' So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, 'He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.' And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, 'Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.' And Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.'"
In order to do anything of worth we must first be right with the Lord. If we go about with actions and religious trappings as the main focus of our life than we will eventually come to a place where we have a great amount but we know in our hearts that we still are lacking. If I do all I can but I have not love, I have nothing.
Original recipe credit to For the Love of Cooking http://www.fortheloveofcooking.net/2012/01/lemon-and-thyme-chicken-breasts.html
What you'll need:
Chicken breasts (I had 2 chicken breasts that I sliced up because of their thickness, you can choose to use 3-4 thin breasts to save time)
1/3 cup Chicken broth
5-6 cloves of Garlic
2 Lemons
1/2 tsp Oregano
1/2 tsp Thyme
To start grease a 9x13 baking pan and preheat your oven to 400 F.
Zest and juice one lemon.
You can go ahead and add the chicken broth, thyme and oregano to your lemon juice and zest.
Meanwhile, brown your garlic in 1/2 Tbs of oil on medium heat for about a minute. Add your lemon juice mixture to the pan with the garlic. Allow the whole mixture to heat evenly while stirring constantly. After about another minute pour the mixture into the cooking pan.
Lay your chicken breasts in the pan and season with extra thyme, salt and/or pepper. Slice up your remaining lemon and place it along side the chicken pieces.
Bake for 30-40 minutes.
Serve with brown rice and veggies.
This recipe was simple enough but I found it lacking. The dish needed...something. I could not put my finger on what would knock this chicken out of the park. Maybe using Italian seasoning instead of Thyme and Oregano? Perhaps it's because I used dry Thyme instead of the fresh Thyme that the original recipe called for. Until I can figure out how to jazz up my so-so chicken this recipe will have to hold a 3 star rating. If you have any ideas as to how this dinner can be improved please share them in the comments bellow.
No comments:
Post a Comment