In over 90% of American households, there is an appliance in the kitchen that makes cooking possible for even those deficient in this life skill. It’s called the microwave. The history of this device dates back to a patent filed on October 8, 1945 and you can read about that in the devotional from March 27th of this year.
The folks at National Day Calendar have proclaimed this day as National Microwave Oven Day. The actual patent was received on January 24, 1950 by the Raytheon Manufacturing Company. Patent no. “US2495429A was issued for “Method of treating foodstuffs.” The patent names Percy L. Spencer as the inventor.”1
I realize that everyone’s not a cook or baker, although, I’ve never really understood what’s so hard about it. You have a step-by-step recipe. You have ingredients and the recipe tells you the measurements. Put it in a bowl, mix it up, pour it into a pan, cook or bake for the recommended amount of time and, VIOLA! As you become more experienced, you begin to experiment with flavors and techniques. How is that any different than following assembly instructions, blueprints, or schematics? Same principles only with a recipe, you get to eat the final result.
For those who still don’t seem to have the skill sets for cooking or baking or the patience to cook and bake, there’s the microwave. Even the cooks and bakers utilize this tool because of the amount of time it can shave off of certain processes.
Anyone can microwave a meal, even if you aren’t a cook. Whether it’s warming up leftover pizza, heating up some chicken tenders, or popping a bag of popcorn, you can have a full meal ready in about 5 mins or less (don’t put the bag of popcorn in for that long!). For those of who are patience-deprived, we celebrate this invention, realizing that it caters to our impetuosity.
Wouldn’t it be great if someone could invent a device that would make us spiritually mature with the speed of microwaved popcorn? We wouldn’t have to wait for years to develop spiritual traits. Beep, beep, beep, wait 30 secs., DING! We’re done!
Walking into God’s kitchen, He is working on a recipe for all of us. “For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:8) That’s the final product. But, what’s it going to take to get us there?
2 Peter 1:3-6 “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: (4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (5) And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; (6) And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness.”
Do you know what I see when I read those verses? WORK! TIME! It’s not microwavable. These are things where ingredients have to be mixed in a bowl and “rest” for some time before they are ready. Others will have to simmer on a stove. Some will have to be baked in the heat of the oven. The oven timer will have to be set and it’s going to take a while. You can’t rush it.
Microwave maturity doesn’t exist. It’s a process that takes time and patience – patience on the part of the maturing individual and patience on the part of others while they wait for someone to mature.
Here’s something else to consider. Unlike a recipe that is finished when the oven timer dings, we are never “finished” in our spiritual growth. Philippians 1:6 says, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” That means that the Lord is still working on us up until the day He calls us home.
Allow yourself – and others – a lifetime to mature. The finished product is well worth it and it’s worth the journey along the way.
1https://nationaldaycalendar.com/national-microwave-oven-day-december-6/
