I was listening to a talk from my favorite guys in finances: Dave Ramsey (again, I thank my mom for steering my in Dave’s direction! I recommend his stuff all the time). His talk was from a church he preached at, and while much of the stuff he shared was “old hat” for a regular Dave listener like myself (though I enjoy even the old words of funny wisdom Dave presents), one quote stood out as new to me. Dave in talking about the fact that finances takes time, and is hard work, said:
“We don’t sell microwaves here, we sell crock-pots! It going to take a while. You’ve got to cook it awhile. But it will taste better!”
He continued on to talking about how most things in our spiritual life are like that.
Crock-pots, not microwaves…interesting! I guess this is one of those things that I should have known. In fact, I probably did know the under-riding principle here, but more so in my head. I guess I never had a catchy analogy like this.
I have never made anything in a crock-pot before, and well I have gone to the microwave tons (that is probably not a good sign!). The crock-pot takes to long…all day often times! And I guess when it comes to culinary stuff, I am not willing to put the time in for a meal that usually ends up tasting amazing.
But what about life… Am I willing to let it cook? Am I willing to be patient, as opposed to putting the “frozen dinner” in the microwave (which never tastes as good!)? AM I WILLING TO DO THE WORK NOW, FOR A DINNER LATER???
Paul in the book of 1 Timothy, chapter 4, verse 7, says: “…discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” In, his book Discipline’s of a Godly Man, Kent Hughes talks about this verse in the idea of TRAINING yourself for Godliness. This disciplining and training stuff doesn’t seem like very “microwavable” terminology.
Money, relationships, building movements on campus, etc., etc., etc. How often I want it done now. I want to put something in my life in the microwave and “ZAP, ZAP…Ding! Done!” And wow, how it doesn’t work.
What are the things today that I am trying to “microwave” that I need to move over to the crock-pot? Besides money, what other crock-pot recipes does the Bible have in it?
