God Wants His Steak Well Done

God went to a restaurant and ordered steak. The waiter asked him, "Do you want it medium rare, God?" He answered: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

That's exactly what the master said in Matthew 25:21 and 23. And while the Biblical story is not talking about steak, we could still learn from this:

• God wants us to be well done. God doesn't want his sons and daughters to be half-cooked, he wants us to be well done. The world's standards may say "medium rare is best," but may we instead follow God's standard to keep pressing on until we are cooked to His well-done perfection.
   
• God puts us in heat to make us well done. God allows trials, challenges and problems in our life not to burn us out but so we can be who He wants us to be. When we're out of the pressure cooker, God can then tell us, "Well done, good and faithful servant."
   
• God wants us to persevere and be patient. Well done steaks take longer to cook at a higher temperature, thus it will also take patience and perseverance to not give up during the process. Just trust God that He will take you out of the heat in His right time (He's never late).

God is interested in developing our character and making us find our strength in Him. So let's bring delight to God and endure as we are being cooked, because there is plenty at steak (pun intended).

The Pig in the Prodigal Son's Story

The Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-24) in the Bible is very familiar to most of us, but the emphasis has always been on the father, the son, and sometimes, the elder brother (and understandably so). But today, as we went through this passage at church, it occurred to me that there is yet another character in this story.

How did the prodigal son finally see that it is better in his father's presence? He met a pig.

In this story, the pigs could represent the children of God:

• They were fed even during the famine. God provided for their needs, and so does God provide for the needs of His children.
• They were considered animals of the lowly kind. We must be willing to put ourselves in a position of humility and let God use us.
• They made the prodigal son realize that life would be better if he returns to his father. Ultimately, they led the son back to his dad, just as God's children should also lead people back to Him.

Do you want God to use you so His lost children could be found again? If so, be a pig.