It is that time of the year…the holidays! Family and friends will gather to spend time together and make new memories. One of the most important aspects of all of this quality time is the food. For many families, some recipes are only made during this time of year. In fact, the holidays may not be the holidays without that special dish.
My grandmother, Katie Bell, was a country girl from Rocky Mount, N.C. (Now, she would tell you that she was from the city. So, let us just say that she was from the city part of the country.) She was an amazing cook. She was not a holiday-only cook. My grandmother enjoyed cooking and bringing her family together at any time of the year. She could cook anything and it was absolutely delicious.
As I got older, my grandmother began to share some of her recipes with me. When I attempted to cook the recipe, I knew how it should taste because my grandmother had set the standard. Each time I made the recipe, I realized that I needed to adjust something that I was doing if I was going to get it to taste like grandma’s version. It may have taken several attempts but eventually I learned to make it just like her.
One Thanksgiving, my uncle complimented my grandmother on the potato salad. She told him that I made it. It was confirmation that I had duplicated the standard. When we get a recipe, we have two options. We can follow the standard that has been set before us or we can make it our own way. When we follow the standard, we adjust what we are doing to recreate the same results. When we make it our own, we adjust the recipe to make it suit our individual taste.
While my grandmother shared her recipes with me, the best thing she ever shared with me was her faith in Jesus Christ. In John 14:6, Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. The “recipe” for salvation is Jesus Christ. Many people have tried to make salvation suit their own taste. They believe that there are many roads that lead to the same God or that they are a good person and deserve salvation. However, this is not the “recipe” that God has given to us.
God loved us so much that He sent His Son into the world to be the perfect sacrifice for our sin. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
Fortunately, the “ingredients” for salvation are simple. We are to turn to God in repentance and faith. Romans 10:9-10 teaches us, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. It is that simple: your heart must believe and your mouth must confess Jesus. If you have not received salvation before, and are ready to follow God’s “recipe”, pray the following:
Father,
I admit that I am a sinner and have lived to please myself. Please forgive me for my sins. Thank you for sending Jesus to pay the price for my sin. Because Jesus was fully God and fully man, lived a sinless life, died, and was resurrected, I can now have a personal relationship with You. I accept your gift of salvation and want to live to please you now. In Jesus’ name…amen.
I encourage you to connect with a church that can teach you how to grow in your relationship with God. Salvation is the best “recipe” ever!
For more on turning to God in faith, read The Standard.
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Copyright 2019 T.L. Lockley. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
