Fresh Avocado Hummus

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you;  

I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26

Food for the Palate

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados

1 15 oz can of chickpeas, drained

2 Tbsp of Tahini paste

3 gloves of garlic, finely grated

2 tsp zest of a lemon

4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped

2 tsp of sunflower seeds, shelled

Instructions:

Put all of your ingredients into a food processor except for the parsley and sunflower seeds. Those are for garnish. Keep pulsing your mixture until it becomes very creamy. Put into a bowl and top it off with your sunflower seeds and your fresh parsley. Drizzle a little bit of good quality olive oil over the top before serving with chips or pita bread! Tasty to the Palate!

Food for the Soul

 I bought my avocados for my hummus 5 days ago. They were as hard as rocks too! I had to let them sit out on the counter the entire time before I could use them. As I was peeling my avocados for this recipe, I was reminded about my spiritual life. I often feel as though I am not growing fast enough. How about you? Are you satisfied with where you are spiritually? Do you often find yourself feeling like there is something blocking your growth process? 

Wanting to grow in our faith should be a desire of all Christians. We should, by all Scriptural standards, want to be transformed more and more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. But sometimes I think we get too caught up in saying, "Tell me what I can do to grow", instead of saying, "Jesus, teach me Your ways". One of the biggest and frankly hindering mistakes that we make in growing stronger spiritually is focusing on self-reliance to grow our faith. 

As Christians, we should never make light of the importance of growing in Christ. It is undeniably important, crucial and God's desire for His children. The problem is when we forget who it is that makes us grow and how we go about pursuing Him, instead of marking off a checklist of things we think we should be doing in order to grow in our faith.  

John Charles Ryle, the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool, England said it best, "Gradual growth in grace, growth in knowledge, growth in faith, growth in love, growth in holiness, growth in humility, growth is spiritual-mindedness-all this I see clearly taught and urged in Scripture, and clearly exemplified in the lives of many of God's saints. But sudden, instantaneous leaps from conversion to consecration I fail to see in the Bible." 

The sanctification process of our spiritual growth and maturity is often a long journey. Our goal should not be to attain that growth on our own merit as quickly as possible. Our goal should be to spend time with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We spend time with Jesus every time we open up the Bible and meditate on it, pray, go to church, receive Communion and fellowship with other believers. We shouldn't be doing these things simply because we want to grow spiritually. Yes, these things help us grow and mature in our faith through the Holy Spirit living in us, but the simple and deep love of Christ should be what compels us to want to spend time with Him. 

If our hearts are in the right place and we are living a life that is pleasing to God, then He will make sure we are growing at the pace He wants us to grow. God's Word tells us so in Philippians 1:6, "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." 

As a Christian we can never be as hard as an unripe avocado, and I know this to be true because God says so in Ezekiel 36:26; "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." But we do need to be careful to not become like an overripe one either. You know the kind of avocado that when you squeeze it, it is so mushy that it has the same consistency as oatmeal before you mash it up? Yep, the gross ones! So many Christians just put their faith on the shelf and forget that faith is all about having a personal, day to day relationship with a living, loving God. Instead, we need to feed our souls with the love of Jesus, be thankful for all that He has done for us, spend time with Him, be obedient to His Holy Word, be patient in the process and then guess what?  He does all the rest! So, the secret to our spiritual growth is simply this - take the eyes of our faith off of ourselves (or the shelf!) and focus instead on Jesus, surrendering to His Holy Spirit, and letting God to the rest!   Satisfying to the Soul!