Recently hubby took me on a date to the Dough Zone Dumpling House. (Amazing! Highly recommend!)
We had Steamed Pork Buns, and soup dumplings.
Voila!
Our dinner of amazingly delicious dumplings was just before we went by the grocery store to get fancy dessert treats. (which I wrote about in yesterday’s blog post)
I found it to be a fascinating contrast between the tasty “goodness on the inside” of the dumplings … vs the disappointing lack of “goodness on the inside” of the fancy-looking chocolate-cup dessert treat (which was just all show, and not much “goodness on the inside” at all … only “empty” whipped cream).
Here you can see the Steamed Pork Buns hubby and I had for dinner. Compared to the fancy-looking dessert treat, the pork buns are very humble in appearance. But on the inside their “tasty goodness” was amazing!
Likewise, here you can see the soup dumplings hubby and I had for dinner. Soup dumplings are unique in that as they cook, the natural juices from the filling ingredients condense to form a “soup” inside the dumpling. To eat them, you want to pop the whole delicious dumpling into your mouth … because there is literally soup inside them. It’s amazing! Amazingly delicious!
These soup dumplings are likewise humble in appearance. But full of “tasty goodness on the inside”!
Yesterday’s blog post asked the question: What’s in your cup?
Or in other words: Is your life filled with “tasty goodness” … or, is your life “empty” just like the “empty” whipped cream which filled the fancy-looking dessert treat … or, is your life filled with a lot of nastiness?
Hubby and I were walking together to go get the mail the other day, and around the corner, at full throttle, came a tandem bike with a couple about 10 years older than us. Immediately I recognized the man on the front of the tandem bike as being a mean hateful person … and I wasn’t sure if I should smile and say ‘Hi.”
But much to my surprise, the couple was pleasant and said ‘Hi’ as they cruised past us. (they live around the corner and down the street from us)
I don’t know if they recognize us the way I recognize them … but the first time I encountered this couple on their tandem bike was shortly after we had moved into our house in the forest. I was out taking a walk, and around the corner they came flying on their tandem bike … with the husband in mid-stream of spewing hateful nasty profanity at his wife! Yikes!
Then a few months later, hubby and I were over at the Community Center in our area. We were pulling out of the Community Center just as this couple was approaching on their tandem bike. Since it was just a bike and not a car, hubby went ahead and pulled out onto the street.
The man on the front of the tandem bike was so enraged that we had gone ahead and pulled out onto the street, that they came flying up past us on their tandem bike and he screamed (at the top of his lungs!) a huge stream of hateful nasty profanity at us through the car windows as they flew past! Yikes!
We gave them a wide berth and let them have the entire street the rest of the way!
This man clearly has a heart and a life which is filled with much nastiness!
Sort of like taking a bite of a delicious-looking dumpling, only to find out that there is decaying rotten ingredients in the filling. Just rotten nastiness!
“The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean.’ For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, lying, slander.” – Matthew 15:18-19
“Above all else, guard your heart [mind], for it is the wellspring of life.” – Proverbs 4:23
“The good person brings good things out of the good stored up in their heart, and the evil person brings evil things out of the evil stored up in their heart. For out of the overflow of your heart your mouth speaks.” – Luke 6:45
So … if we don’t want our life to be like a dumpling filled with decaying rotten nastiness on the inside, which makes everyone sick … what are we to do??
How do we get “goodness on the inside”??
First, we need Jesus to remove all the decaying rotten nastiness [sin] from our life.
And we need the Holy Spirit to make us new. We need the Holy Spirit to fill our life with delicious amazing “goodness on the inside.”
“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” – Ephesians 4:22-23
Recipe for “goodness on the inside”:
* “Each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor.” – Ephesians 4:25
* “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.” – Ephesians 4:28
* “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” – Ephesians 4:29
* “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” – Ephesians 4:31
* “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” – Ephesians 4:32
* “Be imitators of God and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us.” – Ephesians 5:1-2
* “Among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed.” – Ephesians 5:3
* “Be very careful how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” – Ephesians 5:15
This is the recipe for a life filled with “goodness on the inside.”
