If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today . . . all these blessings will come on you. (Deut. 28:1–2)
Expanded Passage: Deuteronomy 28:1-8
When I was first married I didn’t have much experience cooking from scratch, but decided to surprise my husband and try a recipe for spaghetti sauce. I got out my cookbook and began to follow the directions. Soon the sauce was simmering away on the stove. The aroma wafting from the kitchen was encouraging and my mouth began to water as suppertime approached. I served up two heaping plates, one for me and one for my husband, but one bite in and I knew something had gone terribly wrong. After spitting out the spicy bites and rinsing our mouths out with cold water, I dumped our dishes in the dog’s food bowl. He sniffed and walked away, wiser than we were. While I had used a recipe, I hadn’t followed it carefully. I mistakenly substituted the black pepper with white pepper and set our tongues on fire.
I learned an important lesson that day: follow the directions carefully. The same goes with our spiritual life. To receive God’s blessing, we must fully obey all his commands. We can’t choose to substitute selfishness for generosity, indifference for kindness, or unforgiveness for mercy and expect God to bless us. He knows our hearts and sees our actions. We can’t expect to be God’s witness and feel God’s pleasure when we allow ungodly “ingredients” to marinate in our souls.
Search your actions for ungodly ingredients.
Beth Gormong is a graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University (IN) and serves at Wesleyan Publishing House. She spends her free time at the library reading and writing.
© 2025 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
