The Master Chef
Fine dining, in the hands of a true Michelin Star Chef, is a culinary treat which leaves your pallet in awe of the creator, with each course.
The precise blending of ingredients and seasonings, expertly prepared, brings out the absolute best final result.
During our last trip to Sydney, we dined at one of Australia’s best restaurants and experienced a master at work. With our beautiful view of the Sydney Opera House across the harbor, each course revealed, was better than the last, culminating in the most delicious desert ever.
The Master Chef, with his wisdom, skill, and experience, created a unique masterpiece we thoroughly enjoyed.
Now, let’s say that after our meal, we bought the Chef’s cookbook, and set out at home to recreate his dishes, using his recipe.
We start by studying the recipe and gathering the ingredients we will need. During the process though, we see that the recipe calls for an ingredient that we do not care for, so we exclude that from the mix and carry on.
The recipe then calls for one more ingredient which we do not have (and never even heard of), so we cut that out as well.
We then come to a section in the directions tells us to let it rise, then punch it down and let it rise again — this will add another hour or two to the process. We decide that letting it rise once should be good enough. It seemed silly to wait any longer when we’re hungry now.
Finally, it goes into the oven. As it cooks, we open the oven no less than 10 times, just to “to check on it”.
When the bell goes off, we pull the dish out of the oven to test the results. How well do you think it will compare to the Master Chef’s version? Not very good at all.
What is the problem? Why didn’t it taste the same as what we remember? Did we get a defective cookbook? Is there a misprint in the recipe? We should probably just put this cookbook on the shelf next to the rest of the cookbooks that just didn’t work for us (even though we tried).
This is the same way many Christians approach the Word of God. We try to create our own version of the Master’s recipe for our lives, using the limits of our own human experience and the ingredients we have “on hand”.
When we come to a difficult passage in the scripture, we either try to ignore it, skip it or worse yet, we invent ways to exclude or remove it completely.
Over time though, hopefully, we begin to realize that the only way to achieve all that we were created to achieve, is to follow the master’s recipe for our lives, precisely.
God has a plan for our lives.
“For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the LORD, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11 (AMP)
His plan (or recipe, as it were), brings us peace, well-being, a future and a hope. His perfect masterpiece for you and all the world to enjoy.
Like fine dining, YOU are God’s fine masterpiece. Your life is a unique, one-of-a-kind recipe, blended with the Master’s carefully selected ingredients and fine seasonings, to make you all you were created to be.
The end result? A life of peace, well-being and hope. If you’re not experiencing that in your life today, it’s time to follow His recipe instead of yours.
