Don’t Forget the Rice

I am learning that I struggle to maintain a consistent schedule when I work from home. A few weeks ago when I was first adjusting to being at home I realized I was hungry and it was long past lunch time.  I decided to make rice.  Rice is simple. And it’s extra easy for me because I have an Instapot.  It has a button that says “rice”. There are two ingredients, rice and water.  You put them in, shut the lid and push the button. It takes 12 minutes to pressure cook the rice. It even has a countdown timer and when it is done it keeps the rice warm until I am ready.  So I pushed the rice button and came back when it was done. When I opened the lid it was a confusing moment.  It was like someone was playing a trick on me. I could see right to the bottom of the pot and the only thing in it was steaming water. My rice would have turned out just fine except I forgot the rice. You can mess up the most simple things when you forget the most essential ingredients. 

Yeah, that was a really careless mistake and it’s a really basic point.  But we struggle with this. We do a thousand other things but miss what really matters. We come to the end of our day thinking we have accomplished something only to lift the lid and find nothing but steaming water.

So how can we make sure that we don’t forget the rice? That is, how can we be clear about what is most important so that we don’t get off track and waste our lives?

Jesus showed an example of how to do this in Mark 1:35-39.

Priority: “very early in the morning” (v. 35)

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”

Mark 1:35

There is a risk that you will check out, right here, in point number one. You already know how it goes…“just spend daily time in prayer”! But there is something more happening here than just a morning ritual.

We could stay on the surface and repeat the truth that God is most important (Matthew 6:33; 22:37). He is! But just knowing this fact is not all that helpful when you face the decisions of the day and you don’t know which option is more important. Maybe both are good but you can only do one.  Maybe both are bad but you are going to be stuck with one. How do you not forget the rice when the right decision is unclear?

Maybe we make a mistake when we speak of “putting God first” but fail to recognize that He is everything.  Jesus was not just putting the father first, He was depending on the Father in everything. He wasn’t just making the Father a priority but about letting the Father set all His other priorities.  We don’t need just a morning ritual but a constant connection.

Pressure: “everyone is looking for you” (v. 36)

“And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.”’

Mark 1:36-37

You may have thought that quarantine would be relaxing.  But you still live with the reality that “everyone is looking for you”.

Everyone is looking for you! Who are you going to let have you?

It’s all at once flattering and frustrating. You are needed! But you are needed in too many ways.

Here is what we have to remember…We can do anything but we can’t do everything! We must navigate through the urgent to find the important.  We must say “no” to some things in order to say “yes” to the right things!

How do you respond to the pressure of the day so that you don’t forget the purpose for your day? Jesus could have forgotten the rice right here when everyone was looking for Him. Be He responds with clarity of purpose. 

PURPOSE: “that is why I came” (v. 38)

“And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”’

Mark 1:38

He was able to point at something and say, “that is why I come”. When the disciples say, “everyone is looking for you”, Jesus says, “let’s go to the next town”.  And these people needed Jesus. There was more teaching and healing that could have been done there. Jesus said no to things that seem so Christ-like. How did He know to say “no” to that?

There is no formula!

If Jesus was operating out of a formula He might have said, “Let the little children come onto me”(Luke 18:16), or “Don’t send them away, you give them something to eat”(Matthew 14:16), or “Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy burdened”(Matthew 11:28).  He said those things at other times but He didn’t say them this time. He was able to have clear purpose mid-morning because He had clarified priorities early morning. He was able to make right decisions when everyone demanded His attention because He had given His full attention to Father. It is not a formula it is a relationship. A formula could have been memorized. But a relationship required Him to get up early and depart.

Jesus didn’t leave us with a holy formula, He sent us the Holy Spirit. He didn’t give a do-it-yourself guide. He gave Himself to be our guide.

Have you ever tried to rake leaves in the wind? It’s hard to keep up with them. They are all over the place. Those leaves are dead but they move a lot. They are full of activity but empty of life. You can be busier than ever and still arrive at the end of your day with nothing but a pot of steaming water.

You don’t have to forget the rice! But God is going to have to be more than just a “first priority”. He must be everything!