Breakfast in the Driver's Seat

I have never been a big fan of breakfast (mostly because coffee is more than enough to satisfy my needs in the morning) but I know that it is the most important meal of the day so I always eat something. Usually, I eat something fast, but healthy, and since I have a 35 minute commute to the hospital in the mornings; my breakfast must be easily eaten (or drunk) while driving. This week, I opted for a breakfast item not so easily eaten while driving. I know that eating oatmeal while driving (especially on the interstate) isn’t exactly the smartest decision I have ever made but my craving for oatmeal was too intense to ignore. After two mornings of eating my oatmeal concoction (oatmeal with cinnamon, bananas, blueberries, and crushed walnuts) while driving; my secret was revealed to the much wiser woman of my home (I still have the better driving record) After laughing at her reaction, I promised to wake up earlier and enjoy my oatmeal at home opposed to enjoying it in the driver’s seat of my Honda. I was doing a good job at making smart decisions until this morning when I successfully lounged around in my PJ’s drinking coffee until thirty minutes before I needed to be at church. After a quick shower, I mixed up a yogurt concoction (blueberry greek yogurt, granola, and slivered almonds) and headed out the door.  

This morning, I ate most of my breakfast while I was stopped at a red light and I finished the rest in the church parking lot; but I did manage to enjoy a few spoonfuls on the stretch of road between the stop light and the church. I know I can easily solve my unsafe breakfast ritual by waking up 15 minutes earlier but sometimes the comfort of my bed is too hard to sacrifice at 5:45 AM. And sometimes the comfort of wrong decisions and sin are too hard to sacrifice in life. Every day we are forced to make decision and every day we can choose to live a lifestyle that reflects Christ or we can choose to live a life that reflects our own desires which are rooted in sin. When we catch ourselves in situations where we are actively rebelling against the word of God; we can’t justify why our actions are acceptable. We can’t allow ourselves to make an exception just this one time. And we can’t convince ourselves that if we just ask for forgiveness later, everything will be okay. We can’t do these things because as soon as we start playing with fire; Satan drenches us with lighter fluid. He ignites the small flame of sin and rebellion in our lives and before we know it; our fire for the evils of this world is overpowering our relationship with Christ. Our once fear of God’s final judgment has turned into a belief that our actions don’t change our salvation. Our once desire to serve God with all of our heart, mind, and strength has turned into us actively saying to God, “Lord, I will give you Sunday but the rest of the week is mine.” Our lifestyle that once reflected the One who died on a cross so we could all have life has turned into a lifestyle that pushed the nails further into his hands. Friends, I have rebelled against God in every shape and form of the word. And I have stood face to face with my creator, drenched in Satan’s lighter fluid, convinced that my rationale for my decision making skills would be acceptable on the day of judgment. And as I burned God’s heart with my actions and my rebellion; He showed me what the comfort of sin was doing to my own heart; he showed me the consequences that accompanied the comfort of my decisions. I didn’t need God’s fire extinguisher to put out the fire I allowed Satan to keep burning because my tears were more than enough to put out my fire. And when I needed comfort again; my God was there. He was there to once again remind me of the benefits of making the decision to live for Him alone. Are your decisions allowing Satan an opportunity to ignite your fire? Or maybe you are allowing yourself to make exceptions for your lifestyle choices. If you are aware of rebellion in your life, don’t let the false comfort of Satan keep you from the One who chose to die on the cross for every one of our wrong decisions.

I have created many delicious breakfast concoctions over the years to make breakfast more appealing to me because I know I can’t skip breakfast every morning. (and because I am just plain awesome) I have also created many rebellion concoctions over the years to make sin more appealing to me. And because He is just plain awesome He reminds me that I can’t skip out of Him every morning. And if I do; He will send a much wiser woman to tell me that eating oatmeal while driving is the least of my bad decisions…When I am lukewarm God would rather spit me out of His mouth like vomit.

Verse to remember: Hebrews 10:26-27 26 If we deliberately keep on sinning, after we have received the knowledge of truth, no sacrifice of sins is left 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and a raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.