Recipe for a Christian

Cooking. It strikes terror into the hearts of many who have no mastery of its necessary skills. The food they “cook” probably scares their victims, I mean, loved ones even more. That’s part of the premise of a show I was watching last night on Food Network, called Worst Cooks in America. After watching a few of those people cook, let me just say that I’m glad that my television doesn’t transmit smells. I’d still be trying to clear the burnt smell out of my house.

Where is it that these amateur chefs fail? Is it in ingredient selection? Is it the recipe? In one scene, the contestants are given a recipe to cook. Some of them still burned their food to a crisp. Did the recipe let them down? The obvious answer is no.

What caused such terror [fire] and distress [acrid smoke] in the kitchen for these people? It was in the execution of the recipes. Some people forgot to add certain ingredients. Some left food on the burner for too long. Others simply wasted their time.

One poor cook found himself on the receiving end of a jab from the professional chef teaching him. After he had overcooked his chicken, but hadn’t added the sauce, his response was, “I guess I just ran out of time.” The professional chef replied, “Well, if you had time to overcook the chicken, don’t you think you had time to add the sauce!”

May I suggest to you that this is often the problem with living the Christian life. God has given us a book full of ingredients, as well as recipes. We even have some passages that act as a table of contents for the cookbook (Galatians 5:22-23). He’s also given us ample time to make something out of it (2 Peter 3:9).

When we fail, is it a problem with the system? Is it that God simply didn’t instruct us in the way to get out of trouble? None of this is the case (see James 1:13, 1 Corinthians 10:13).

Just like with the worst cooks in America, the problem lies in the execution of the recipes. If you’ve ever taken a serious look at a recipe, you’ll notice a section which lists ingredients. This is like the raw knowledge and facts we gain from reading God’s Word. The other part of the recipe is the instruction section. This is the wisdom part of the recipe. It’s the part that tells you what to do with the ingredients. After all, if the meats and vegetables just lay on the counter, uncooked, they aren’t doing anyone any good!

This is where Solomon failed later in life (1 Kings 11:4-6). It was as if Solomon had the biggest and most exhaustive cookbook available to any man (1 Kings 4:30), yet he failed to execute. He tried to add his own flair, his own ingredients to the mix. God didn’t let him down, Solomon ignored the recipe.

As we are at the beginning of the year, don’t ignore the recipe for the Christian life. Even if you’ve failed in the past, remember, it’s not a problem with the system. The bottom line is this, you can’t be better without Christ. The Bible gives us the knowledge (Proverbs 1:1-7, Psalm 119) and Christ gives us the recipe (1 Peter 2:20-21). Start this year by:

• Gathering all the ingredients you need together (Psalm 119:11).
  
• Reading and re-reading the recipe (2 Timothy 2:15).
  
• Getting in the kitchen (Hebrews 10:24-25).
  
• Start cooking (James 1:22-25)!

Just like cooking, with practice, you’ll get better!

~Daniel Howell