Following The Recipe!
Pumpkin pie is a favorite at Thanksgiving. The recipe is written out and easy to follow: sugar, 3 different spices, eggs, pumpkin and evaporated milk. You add each ingredient to the next and then pour that all into a pie shell and bake. What comes out is a deep golden orange pie ready for a dollop of whip cream and a fork.
Pumpkin pie is one of my dad's favorites. This past Thursday after his Thanksgiving meal he sat down with fork in hand ready to enjoy the beautifully baked pumpkin pie with a bit of whipped cream my mother had made. I wasn't present but, from what I've heard, the grimace he made upon taking just one bite let everyone in the room know that this pie was not all that it appeared to be, that they may want to stay away from it. It turns out that in my mothers busy Thanksgiving preparations she had somehow failed to add the sugar to all the other ingredient the recipe called for. Little did any of us know what an extremely unpleasant and inedible pie could be created by leaving out just this one ingredient.
I thought of this story when reading 2 Peter 1:5-11. In these verse we are given a "recipe" for being an effective and productive light for Christ. We are to start with goodness as our base and add to it knowledge. Once these are mixed we add in self-control and then perseverance. Once these have combined we continue and add godliness with brotherly kindness. Then we top it all off with love. The result is a life that shines forth the glory of the Lord. We can become people of purpose, Godly purpose, people of power, people who bring hope, joy, peace, support, encouragement, strength, and on and on...to those around us. We are a delicious delight to others. We become people who do not fall, who are secure, when walking and living in this truth (vs10)
Why do we follow recipes? So that we can get the end result that recipe promises is possible by using the ingredients listed and following the instructions. If the recipe lists 7 ingredients and we say that we only want to use 5 of them we should not be surprised when the end result is nothing like what the recipe promised (as my father learned with his sugarless pumpkin pie). In 2 Peter, this "recipe" we are given is not a pick and choose list. It is not a list that allows us to find substitutions for "ingredients" we struggle with or don't care for. This list is not a wake up and decided what you feel like keeping and what you can do without for the day kind of list. This is a very specific list, a specific "recipe" that has been given to us with a specific promise of specific results.
When we look at this "recipe" as a list of possible suggestions what happens is we deceive only ourselves. Like that pumpkin pie my dad ate, it looked perfect. It looked just like a pie that had all the required ingredients in it. But when my dad took a bite, when he experienced the pie, it became clear immediately that it was not what it appeared to be. We only fool ourselves when we don't seek to start with goodness each and everyday and add to it each of the spiritual "ingredients" listed. We become nearsighted and blind to the bitterness and distaste that we can leave on peoples lives. We can leave a bad taste in the lives of people we interact with and cause them to not want to interact with Christ followers in the future. That means that even though we may look good on the outside we serve no real benefit for the kingdom of God, we become ineffective and unproductive.
I desire to be a bright light for the Lord. I want to be a means in which people can experience the goodness, knowledge, power, encouragement, godliness, kindness, and love of the lord. There may be days or situations when I feel tempted to leave one of these things out. I may feel hurt, I may feel someone is undeserving, I may feel tired, I may feel irritated, I may feel a whole host of different things that will try and make me think that I can leave one or more of these "ingredients" out, but.....
Why do I follow recipes, God's recipes? Because he always gives me a promised result when I do, a good promised result (both for my benefit and the benefit of others). He reminds me of how he showed me all these things when I didn't deserve them and he reminds me in Philippians 4:13 that I am not alone in mixing these together each day but that I can do all things when he is my strength, when I give him the apron and let him create in me a shinning light that others can experience and delight in. When I follow the "recipe" I can rest assured that I am truly living an effective and productive life for the Lord.
I encourage you to join me today and ask the Lord to help you better understand what each of these "ingredients" should look like in your life. Ask the Lord to help you to recognize which "ingredients" you struggle to practice or perhaps who you struggle to display them toward. Ask the Lord to be your strength and help in the areas that you recognize are a challenge. I encourage you to seek the Lord and ask him to help you live out this "recipe" so that you can live an effective and productive life for him for the benefit and blessing of others.
Pumpkin pie is a favorite at Thanksgiving. The recipe is written out and easy to follow: sugar, 3 different spices, eggs, pumpkin and evaporated milk. You add each ingredient to the next and then pour that all into a pie shell and bake. What comes out is a deep golden orange pie ready for a dollop of whip cream and a fork.
Pumpkin pie is one of my dad's favorites. This past Thursday after his Thanksgiving meal he sat down with fork in hand ready to enjoy the beautifully baked pumpkin pie with a bit of whipped cream my mother had made. I wasn't present but, from what I've heard, the grimace he made upon taking just one bite let everyone in the room know that this pie was not all that it appeared to be, that they may want to stay away from it. It turns out that in my mothers busy Thanksgiving preparations she had somehow failed to add the sugar to all the other ingredient the recipe called for. Little did any of us know what an extremely unpleasant and inedible pie could be created by leaving out just this one ingredient.
I thought of this story when reading 2 Peter 1:5-11. In these verse we are given a "recipe" for being an effective and productive light for Christ. We are to start with goodness as our base and add to it knowledge. Once these are mixed we add in self-control and then perseverance. Once these have combined we continue and add godliness with brotherly kindness. Then we top it all off with love. The result is a life that shines forth the glory of the Lord. We can become people of purpose, Godly purpose, people of power, people who bring hope, joy, peace, support, encouragement, strength, and on and on...to those around us. We are a delicious delight to others. We become people who do not fall, who are secure, when walking and living in this truth (vs10)
Why do we follow recipes? So that we can get the end result that recipe promises is possible by using the ingredients listed and following the instructions. If the recipe lists 7 ingredients and we say that we only want to use 5 of them we should not be surprised when the end result is nothing like what the recipe promised (as my father learned with his sugarless pumpkin pie). In 2 Peter, this "recipe" we are given is not a pick and choose list. It is not a list that allows us to find substitutions for "ingredients" we struggle with or don't care for. This list is not a wake up and decided what you feel like keeping and what you can do without for the day kind of list. This is a very specific list, a specific "recipe" that has been given to us with a specific promise of specific results.
When we look at this "recipe" as a list of possible suggestions what happens is we deceive only ourselves. Like that pumpkin pie my dad ate, it looked perfect. It looked just like a pie that had all the required ingredients in it. But when my dad took a bite, when he experienced the pie, it became clear immediately that it was not what it appeared to be. We only fool ourselves when we don't seek to start with goodness each and everyday and add to it each of the spiritual "ingredients" listed. We become nearsighted and blind to the bitterness and distaste that we can leave on peoples lives. We can leave a bad taste in the lives of people we interact with and cause them to not want to interact with Christ followers in the future. That means that even though we may look good on the outside we serve no real benefit for the kingdom of God, we become ineffective and unproductive.
I desire to be a bright light for the Lord. I want to be a means in which people can experience the goodness, knowledge, power, encouragement, godliness, kindness, and love of the lord. There may be days or situations when I feel tempted to leave one of these things out. I may feel hurt, I may feel someone is undeserving, I may feel tired, I may feel irritated, I may feel a whole host of different things that will try and make me think that I can leave one or more of these "ingredients" out, but.....
Why do I follow recipes, God's recipes? Because he always gives me a promised result when I do, a good promised result (both for my benefit and the benefit of others). He reminds me of how he showed me all these things when I didn't deserve them and he reminds me in Philippians 4:13 that I am not alone in mixing these together each day but that I can do all things when he is my strength, when I give him the apron and let him create in me a shinning light that others can experience and delight in. When I follow the "recipe" I can rest assured that I am truly living an effective and productive life for the Lord.
I encourage you to join me today and ask the Lord to help you better understand what each of these "ingredients" should look like in your life. Ask the Lord to help you to recognize which "ingredients" you struggle to practice or perhaps who you struggle to display them toward. Ask the Lord to be your strength and help in the areas that you recognize are a challenge. I encourage you to seek the Lord and ask him to help you live out this "recipe" so that you can live an effective and productive life for him for the benefit and blessing of others.
Let the world taste the goodness and glory of the Lord through us today. (Ps. 34:8)
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