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Did You Cook All This?

"Did You Cook All This?"

By Eddie Boggess

From Cedar Grove House to House/Heart to Heart September/October, 2013

                  You are in a bind.  You have people coming over for dinner, but you do not have the time or desire to cook.  On top of that you have a serious concern that you lack the skill to prepare a good enough meal.  What do you do?  More and more people are calling services that deliver gourmet meals to your door. Every large city has one, and they are cropping up more and more in small towns.  This is not a bad thing.  As busy as we are these days, there is nothing wrong with letting someone else do the cooking.  That is, as long as you acknowledge that someone else did the cooking. 

 In a news report1, we read about one such gourmet food preparation company in London, England, called "Housebites."  They offer not only to bring you a fully prepared meal, but also, for an additional fee, to leave the dirty pots and pans with you "for added authenticity." In other words, they let you hold on to the dirty dishes so that you can lie to your company more effectively, convincing them that you cooked the meal, when in fact, you did not.  Does that not reflect the kind of society in which we live?

             Gone are the days when someone's word was his bond.  Gone are the days when you could take what someone said to the bank.  Gone are the days when you could trust most people.  We live in a society where it seems like everyone is trying to deceive everyone else. Everyone is trying to make himself look better than he really is!  The resultant society is one in which no one can be trusted.  We are forced to live our lives in constant suspicion that those around us are trying to pull the wool over our eyes in some way.  It makes life harder for everyone.

             This is not the way God wants us to be.  He wants us to be honest with one another.  "Therefore, putting away lying, 'Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,' for we are members of one another" (Ephesians 4:25).  As God's people living in the world today, there may not be a lot that we can do about all the lying that goes on around us, but there is a lot we can do about the kind of life and example we chose to live. God wants His people to be people of integrity.  In fact, that was Jesus' real point when He talked about swearing oaths (Matthew 5:33-37). People swear oaths to give themselves credibility.  Jesus wanted His followers to have credibility based on their character. That is why He said, "But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one" (Matthew 5:37).

             As God's children one of the greatest impacts we can have on the world around us is by being people who stand out for our integrity.  We live in a world of lies and liars.  Let us stand out by always speaking the truth. 

 1www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/13/housebites-food-delivery-dirty-dishes-fake-cooks_n_1594752.html