My favorite thing to cook up is true love. I delight to heat up and “stir up the gift of God which is in” me (2 Timothy 1:6) so that God’s kindness and compassion flow from deep within me to everyone I encounter (even to my enemies).

Here’s the recipe:

1. Fully surrender your heart and life (your plans and your future) to the risen Jesus. Let Him fill you with His presence so that His words continually burn in your heart to cook up His supernatural love within you.
2. Always keep your trust in the Lord. Completely rely on Him. Even when people “do not speak peaceably” to you but instead “devise false accusations” against you, depend on the Lord, not on retaliation. (“God is love,” are you?)
3. “Love your enemies,” “do good to those who hate you,” “bless those who curse you,” and “pray for those who despitefully use you.” Always be “speaking the truth in love.”
4. “Let the Lord be exalted,” by the way you show respect and kindness to those you disagree with and even to those who mistreat you. Refuse to be defeated by your own self-righteousness, anger, unforgiveness, and bitterness.

To disrespect the humanity of one person is to disrespect the humanity of us all. Love respectively speaks truth with kindness. Cook some up today!