Recipe For Life

Let me be clear from the beginning: I consider my mother to be a
good cook. She doesn't enjoy cooking, but she is quite capable of
making a number of delicious dishes.

Nevertheless, there was a period during which she was afflicted with
the inability to make soup. I'm not talking about making soup from
scratch or anywhere near it. I mean she had tremendous difficulty
making soup of the canned variety.

Her malady advanced to such a state that when she would offer to make
me soup, I would decline her hospitality in quavering voice, "N-n-n-no,
th-th-thank you." You see I remembered the last bowl she prepared for
me.

Unfortunately, the source of my mother's affliction was not treatable
by any physician. A remedy existed, but only my mother could administer
it. The cure: follow the instructions on the label.

Now not all soups are prepared equal. Some canned soups require water
to be added and some require milk. Other soups require no additional
ingredients to be added. On every can of soup, the correct cooking
procedure and the ingredients to be added (if any) are specified on the
label.

Thinking she knew how to make something as simple as soup from a can,
my mother would ignore the printed instructions and proceed from
memory. Invariably, she added the wrong ingredient or violated the
cooking procedure or both. When this occurred, the result was a far cry
from enjoyable.

You may not understand why you're instructed to add water versus milk
or why you shouldn't boil the soup. But one thing is for certain: the
company that made the soup knows why and if we want to enjoy their soup
we must follow their instructions for doing so.

The same is true of God's word. We may not understand why God, through
the Bible, instructs us to do or not to do something. We can, however,
be sure that God knows what is best for us because He created us. And
because God loves us we can also be certain that He has our best
interests at heart.

While I am sure it is entirely possible for delicious soup to be
prepared from a can without the benefit of instructions, best results
are usually achieved when the directions are followed. Why? Because the
people that made the soup want you to enjoy it.

Similarly, God wants us to enjoy life. When we concoct our own recipe
for life the enjoyment is short-lived at best and often disastrous.
Nevertheless, when we follow the recipe of the one who made and loves
us, we are assured a delightful life.