Are you a slow cooker or an instant pot?

James 1:22-25

²² But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

²³ For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

²⁴ For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

²⁵ But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

On June 13th I grabbed my bible and shut the door to my bedroom.
This was the last Sound of the Lord Mission bible study before summer break. The teaching was based on Psalm 1 which has 6 verses. There were questions and thoughtful insight from the group after the study. I was determined to read and study Psalm 1 again on my own, to reinforce what we had just learned. I read and reread it 4 times quickly.

5 minutes later my mind wandered. The laundry, groceries, work, writing this article – took my mind in different directions. Guilt forced me to read the verses again. This cycle continued a few times before I closed the Bible in exasperation and tackled my chores. And the winner is….’the to-do list’.. again. Anyone else been there or is it just me?

However, I realized the root of my frustration was actually not lack of time, or the many things that I had to do. It was much deeper, what I call “The Instant Pot Syndrome’ that was spilling over into my spiritual life.

Due to the fact that I had used this method of reading God’s Word for so long, I had many nuggets of truth from the Word stored in my mind but not many that I was meditating on daily, and putting into practice consistently and therefore, it was not producing lasting results. I was hearing God’s Word but not being a consistent doer of it.

In reality, both the instant pot and the slow cooker will get you dinner on the table with somewhat similar results but where God’s Word is concerned lets strive to simmer and soak in it, – much like the ingredients in an overnight slow cooker recipe. Otherwise, by sacrificing stable, focused, steady growth, for speed, we end up paying for it later with repeating processes that we had already spent time doing.

Jesus was never in a hurry when it came to Kingdom matters. He stopped to talk to the woman at the well on the way to Samaria. When He was interrupted by blind Bartimaeus, He wasn’t annoyed or flustered at the interruption. He was unhurried, undaunted, unperturbed when He ministered to people and that’s how we are meant to walk this journey too.

This summer, I hope to meditate, memorize and model, 1-2 scriptures, until it becomes a daily habit, natural as breathing, a way of life, grafted into the very fabric of my being, I would accomplish more this way, than studying chapters and books in the Word in a haphazard, flick-through-looking-for-answers-quickly manner.

Slow down, take the foot off the gas pedal and truly savor the journey as you immerse yourself in God’s Word. It will rise up from within again and again to combat whatever the enemy throws at you in life.

Psalm 1:2
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on His law day and night

In His Service,

Sohani Faria
Director
Sound of the Lord Mission