Prayer and the Ministry of the Word

Dear Friends,

Do you know about TVP? It's a meat substitute made mostly of soybeans. The best-known iterations are Bacos and school lunch hamburgers.

Well, a few years back I got Y2K crazy. (This should suprise no one who knows me, because I get caught up in whatever I get interested in.) In the process I bought some cans of long-term storage food, among which were some cans of TVP. Since I spent so much money on this barely-edible stuff, I feel obligated, when it's my turn to cook, to use it if possible. Through the past few years, my family has sat down to some decent powdered-cheese kinda soup stuff, some barely-edible black bean vegetarian chili, and a few dishes that the dog wouldn't eat.

It's been more than five years now, and most of the food has been et. (That's the rural Texas past tense of "to eat.") But today when I was about to cook, I seemed to remember that there was still a can or two under the bed. Sure enough, there was one more can of TVP Beef!

We had the makin's (rural Texas for "ingredients") for enchilada casserole, so I gave it a try. This casserole had all kinds of good stuff in it:

-half a brick of Velveeta
-a can of cream-of-something soup
-a cup of milk
-a package of Taco seasoning
-Ranch dressing (rural Texas multi-purpose seasoning)
-flour and corn tortillas

We even had some Texas-shaped tortilla chips that my in-laws brought back from San Antonio. (We don't have HEB up here in North Texas.)

You'd think that with all these yummie ingredients, the flavor and texture of the TVP would disappear, and the whole casserole would taste wonderful.

You'd be wrong.

Seven kids and two adults sat down to that casserole, and I found I had fooled no one. The little kids ate their apple slices, asked for more corn chips, then said, "Can I go play the computer now?" The older kids ate some and said it was pretty good, but were just being nice. My normally-ravenous 12-year-old ate only a few bites. (This was very telling!)

The combined flavors of the delicious ingredients could not overpower the stale, imitation, artificial flavor of the TVP.

I think this simple episode in my family's life could serve as a strong challenge for Christians in general, and church leaders in particular. We must live holy lives. We must keep ourselves from being polluted by the world. We must purify ourselves.

If we have a great witnessing ministry, but we watch sexual movies on the DVD or VCR, we will not be able to keep the rotten taste from surfacing.

If we preach great sermons, but we harbor prideful thoughts about advancing in our careers, moving to more prestigious churches, we will not be able to mask the artificial flavor.

If we provide good biblical counseling for troubled Christians, but overindulge in leisure or good food, we will not be able to keep our church members from wanting something else besides what we are serving.

The Bible says,

(2 Peter 3:11) Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives

(James 1:27) Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

(1 John 3:3) Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure.

"Daddy's Famous Under-the-Bed TVP Enchilada Casserole" was not much use as a food. Maybe it will at least be useful as a reminder of this principle in Christian life and ministry.

Love in Christ,

Jeff