2:156 – Right Ingredients, Wrong Recipe

#faithbites #faithjourney recipe

It never fails. You see a recipe on Facebook or someone emails one to you and you want to make it. It sounds so good. You go home and start gathering the ingredients. You are missing one or more. Then you try to come up with substitute ingredients. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, all the time it’s not the same as the original recipe you had intended to make.

God has given us all the ingredients (skills and abilities) to follow his plan (the recipe). The problem is we see the plans of the world and was to fit into it. I’m too fat, too skinny, too tall, too short, too poor, too black, too Latinx, too stupid, too whatever. Because we are following the wrong recipes, we try to change ourselves to fit the world, rather than being who God wants us to be.

We need to remember that God has his plan and made us for that plan.

Scripture

• I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. – Psalm 32:6
• “He has filled them with skill to perform every work of an engraver and of a designer and of an embroiderer, in blue and in purple and in scarlet material, and in fine linen, and of a weaver, as performers of every work and makers of designs.” – Exodus 35:35
• Why do we boast or assume ownership, if it has been given to us? All that we have—whether material wealth, skill, or talent—has been given to us by the Creator. – 1 Corinthians 4:7

Reflection

God has created us in his image to do what he needs us to do. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, we are taught that just like the human body has different functions, so does the body of Christ. We need to trust that God has planned great things for us and will guide us in his path.

I’d love to be a master carpenter, but I know that’s not me. I admire what they do, just as I admire many other skills. I’m not cut out for that and while I may learn something new, listening to God as to where he wants me is key.

Sometimes forcing ingredients into a recipe works, sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve had those times when I’ve tried and the meal is a disaster. Those are the days we order pizza. In life, we need to follow God recipe. When we fail, that’s where Jesus’s love will redeem us.

Charge

How do you follow God’s plan? Do you try to go on your own and follow your own recipe or do you look to God? If things aren’t going right in your life, maybe you’ve deviated a bit too much. It’s ok, to start again.

Prayer

Lord, we are your handiwork. You have a recipe for us to follow. Help us to ignore what the world throws at us. Give us the strength to always follow you and not be pulled into temptation. When we fail, forgive us, and set us back on your path. In your name, Amen.