What can God do with a pinto bean?
It is the day before Thanksgiving, and I am busy in the kitchen preparing food. Since family is arriving on Wednesday night, I decided to fix pinto beans as part of the dinner meal. As I was preparing the pinto beans to be cooked, God began to speak to me about these pinto beans. Isn’t that an odd topic, I thought but as God began to share with me, I could see clearly how we are all like these pinto beans. Just as I had a purpose to prepare these beans that my family would enjoy, God has a purpose in mind as well for each of us. He also has a family and He is preparing for the final supper. If we use the analogy of the pinto bean, God’s purpose begins before we even come home with our bag of beans. The beans are processed, packaged and sent to different stores and placed on the shelves. We are also processed or born in different areas of the country, grow up and are sent to different parts of the country. Each bag of pinto beans has a purpose. They will end up in different homes and enjoyed by different people. We, too, have a purpose. We will end up in different towns and our purpose is for God to use us and affect the lives of different people.
As I opened the bag of pinto beans, I put them in the colander and ran water over the beans to wash off the impurities, The Lord began to show me how Jesus Himself opens the bag and places each of us in the colander and runs His blood over us to cleanse us from our impurities and sins. The next step to preparing my beans is the process of handling each bean with care and sifting the good beans from the ruined beans. We all know that one ruined bean can ruin the taste of all the beans and it is important for us to remove them. Jesus uses the same process as He handles each of us with care and He sifts the good from the bad. As I threw away the beans that were bad, I was reminded how the ones who do not choose Jesus will be thrown into the lake of fire.
Now we all know that when we put the good beans in a pot, we pour water over them and cook them slowly. This process changes the form of the bean from a hard-shelled bean to a soft chewable bean with flavor that can be eaten and provide nourishment to those who will come later to enjoy the meal and partake of the bean. The same applies to our lives. Jesus pours out his Holy Spirit over us and allows His Spirit to penetrate us to remove the hard shell in our lives and replace it with a spirit that Jesus can mold and use for His purpose. There are times that Jesus places us (hard-shelled people) into the boiling water. He knows as He watches over us that even though times may be tough and the water becomes hot, that we will come out of our situation, no longer cold and hard-shelled that has no flavor and cannot be used but one that has warmth and a soft shell and has a new flavor and can be used by Him. He wants all of us to change from the hard, sin-filled person into a soft, flavorful person. We have been through the boiling fire so that God can use us to flavor the life of someone else that will come later to enjoy what God has provided for them.
Just as I added salt and other seasonings to the pot of beans to bring out added flavor, God does the same for us. He adds salt to our life that we may be the salt of the earth where we can add flavor to others around us. He sprinkles both blessings and trials to mold us into the people He can use to provide nourishment to a dying world. Sometimes our life is like a bowl of hot boiling water but we must realize that Jesus is constantly watching over us and will not “overcook” us or allow us to “burn” but takes us out at the perfect time so He can use us.
Just as God purposely created the pinto bean to bring nourishment to others, He also purposely created us to bring spiritual nourishment to others. So, what can God with a pinto bean? He can create it, process it, place it where it is needed, change it and use it for His glory. May He do the same for us.