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.
According To Your Promise
“I pray thee that thy mercy may comfort me, according to thy promise unto thy servant.” – Psalm 119:76 (GNV)
The Psalmist prays here, seeking comfort and reminds God subtly, yet effectively, of the promise He made to him “according to thy promise unto thy servant”.
This is similar to Peter whom, almost reluctantly, set out into the deep waters to cast his net. After initially reasoning why he shouldn’t do it, he eventually said ”But because you say so”, and success came his way. (See Luke 5:1-11)
This reminder, which is really more for us than for God, is useful throughout our journey. It helps retrain our earthly minds from it’s real “Can’t-Do” attitude into a Kingdom mindset, where “All things are possible” (Matthew 19:23-30).
As fellow believers in Christ, the phrases ”according to your promise” and ”because you said so” need to be uttered, in every difficult situation or decision we face. At first, it will seem forced or even silly, as it was for like Peter (see Luke 5:5). But in time, as we see God’s faithfulness to us in every situation, His thoughts become our thoughts, naturally (see Romans 12:2). Change our patterns, change our lives.
When we let His Word be our guide, and those declarations the deciding factor, our lives will go from victory to victory as we journey from faith to faith.
Mr. Müller And The Fog
“When I first came to America, thirty-one years ago, I crossed the Atlantic with the captain of a steamer who was one of the most devoted men I have ever knew, and when we were off the banks of Newfoundland he said to me: “Mr Inglis, the last time I crossed here, five weeks ago, one of the most extraordinary things happened, that has completely revolutionised the whole of my Christian life. Up to that time I was one of your ordinary Christians. We had a man of God on board, George Muller, of Bristol. I had been on the bridge for twenty-two hours, and never left it. I was startled by someone tapping me on the shoulder. It was George Muller. ‘Captain’ he said, I have come to tell you that I must be in Quebec on Saturday afternoon. This was Wednesday. ‘It is impossible, I said. ‘Very well, if your ship can’t take me, God will find other means to take me. I have never broken an engagement in fifty-seven years.’ ‘I would willingly help you. How can I? I am helpless.’ ‘Let us go down to the chart room and pray.’
“I looked at that man of God, and I thought to myself, what lunatic asylum could the man have come from? I never heard of such a thing. ‘Mr Muller,’ I said ‘do you know how dense the fog is?’ ‘No,’ he replied, ‘my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God, who controls every circumstance of my life.’ He got down on his knees and prayed one of the most simple prayers. I muttered to myself: ‘That would not suit a children’s class where the children are not more than eight or nine years old.’ The burden of his prayer was something like this: ‘O Lord, if it is consistent with Thy will, please remove this fog in five minutes. Thou knowest the engagement Thou didst make for me in Quebec on Saturday. I believe it is Thy will.’
“When he finished I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. ‘First, you do not believe He will; and second, I believe He has, and there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.’ I looked at him, and George Müller said this: ‘Captain, I have known my Lord for fifty-seven years, and there has never been a single day that I have failed to gain an audience with the King. Get up, Captain, and open the door, and you will find the fog is gone.’ I got up, and the fog was gone!
“You tell that to some people of a scientific turnoff mind, and they will say: ‘That is not according to natural laws.’ No, it is according to spiritual laws. The God with whom we have to do is omnipotent. Hold on to God’s omnipotence. Ask believingly. On Saturday afternoon, I may add, George Müller was there on time.”
by Charles Inglis