Readings
Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’
‘What is written in the Law?’ he replied. ‘How do you read it?’
He answered, ‘“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”; and, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”’
‘You have answered correctly,’ Jesus replied. ‘Do this and you will live.’ (Luke 10:25-28)
Thought
When you are cooking are you someone who sticks exactly to the instructions or are you more of an experimentalist? I have to say that my answer would be ‘it depends’, as it depends on what I am cooking and who I am cooking it for. If I am cooking something from a recipe for the first time I will stick very closely to exactly what the recipe says. However I am quite happy to alter and adapt recipes that I have used before in order to try out different flavours or variations. If I am cooking for just me and Rob I will be much more experimental than if I am cooking for anyone else.
However if I am cooking something that has been prepared by someone else (or something else in the case of the large machines in some of the food processing factories) then I am careful to follow the instructions that come with the product. After all I didn’t make the product so why would I not follow the instructions from the person who did?
Last week I was preparing some food for lunch and noticed that the instructions on the back of the packet stated ‘for best results’ cook in a particular way. This gave me a choice, I could have the best results or I could cook it another way and have results that were not as good. The choice seemed obvious to me, I wanted the best results I could have so I followed the instructions they had given.
We are created by God and as our creator he knows what is best for us. We have the promise of eternal life when we believe in Jesus, but sometimes we wonder how we should then live our lives. Jesus gives us the very answer in Luke 10 when he says to the expert in the law that we should ‘“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind”; and, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”’ The instructions are actually quite clear and they come from our creator God, who knows how to get the best results out of us. They may not always be the easiest of instructions to carry out but in this case it is best not to be experimental but to follow our creator’s instructions as carefully as we can.
Prayer
Loving Heavenly Father, help us to live our lives in the way that you would wish. Forgive us for when we fall short and guide us back to where you want us to be.
Amen
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