God's Recipe

Forgive me up front for this being cornier than a knock knock joke from a Christian radio DJ.  But, I had to give this perspective of God and desire for our joy, not our demise.  


I have been reading a couple of books.  One is "A Meal with Jesus" by Tim Chester and the other being "Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain.  Both are a really good read and the first one will give anyone insight to why I believe meals and food are to be central in my life as I desire to bless my community.  


Anyways.  


Yesterday I was following a couple of recipes to make Korean steak tacos and also just some regular marinated steak Mexican tacos.  This got me thinking. 


Never once did I think, "Man...this person who gave me this recipe is a jerk for making me follow all these rules of the recipe.  Why can't I add peanut butter and popcorn seeds to this recipe?" 



You see, we have recipes from people for a reason.  It's so the final product will be the best culmination of our work and our taste buds will jump for joy when we put the food to our mouths.  There are not only certain things we add to the recipe, but we also get the precise measurement of how much to add.  So, we don't just add as much salt as we want, we add a pinch, or a teaspoon.  


Again, we never think, "this person who made this recipe just wants my food to suck and me to hate the end product." 


What is interesting as you think through this is that this relates to God very well. 


He is a good God, who desires for our lives to be filled with joy.  He has certain things that he calls us to, he has certain things he tells us to add to our lives, certain things to avoid, but this isn't so our life is full of crap and demise, but is full of the most joy we could ever imagine. 


He might tell us things like, "don't have sex outside of marriage."  We, as people, think, "that's cruel...why not?" But God, wanting our most joy, knows the joy thief this can be.   We think, "how is it different in marriage or outside of marriage...isn't it the same?" That's like saying, "it says to add onions to the recipe, what the difference if I cook them or not?"  There's a huge difference and even if we don't recognize the effects right away, it will come out in the end. 


What if we saw God, not as someone trying to steal our joy, not as someone giving us a recipe for a nasty outcome, but as someone who knows exactly how to have the most joy and contentment in this life and the life to come?  


What if we gave him the benefit of the doubt as we do with those that give us recipes over the internet that we've never met?  


What if we trusted God, like we trust the one giving us a recipe that corn doesn't go well with peanut butter and vinegar? 


Even more so,  we sometimes make something that tastes good, but will make us sick if we eat too much of it, or drink too much of it.  God, the one who knows all things also gives us wisdom on how to use his good gifts that he gives to us.  


God does tell us those things to stay away from, the type of people we should avoid to seek wisdom from.  He also tells us those things which are good for us, those things we should continually seek.   This is all for our joy and his glory.  This is so we, in the end, live this life in a way that gives us a joy that surpasses all understanding. 


I wish I didn't doubt God as much as I do, but if I can see him as a good God, who doesn't desire my demise, but my joy...that is a God that can be trusted. 


Sorry for the corny explanation...now back to your regular scheduled programming.