I confess, I don’t always follow a recipe as written. I like to experiment.  Sometimes I mix in what I think will make a recipe better. Sometimes I leave out what I don’t have on hand or substitute with another ingredient and hope for the best.  Most times this works for the experienced cook, but there are times when it doesn’t and the final results are inedible.  I have learned over the years that some ingredients work well together while others do not.  Trial and error cooking is not for all people.  My mom, for example, would follow a recipe as written or it would not be made!  Dad, on the other hand, loved mixing it up.

Over the years, I have learned there is one recipe that nonnegotiable—The recipe for a God-filled life that satisfies the hunger of our hearts, minds, and soul.  This recipe cannot be altered or other ingredients mixed in.  Following this recipe prepares us now for life eternal with God.  The main and only ingredient in this recipe is Jesus. 

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” –Jesus, John 14:6

Jesus is the one and only way to God.  Believing who He is, what He has done for us, then following what He says is the recipe for a forever relationship with God and opens the door to very throne of God!  Repenting of our sins in Jesus Name is the process that begins this intimate, loving relationship.  God then feeds us daily, allowing His Holy Spirit to live within us so He can continually fill our souls with Truth. Our lives transform as we learn to rely on God, the Father, who can be trusted to do what He says He will do!  Through Jesus, we are served a meal of love, mercy, and grace, poured out as a sacrifice for our sins, that is perfectly good, saves our souls, and satisfies our hunger. 

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” Psalm 34:8, NIV

Titus 2, The Message

A God-Filled Life

^1-6 Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine. Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s Message because of their behavior. Also, guide the young men to live disciplined lives.

^7-8 But mostly, show them all this by doing it yourself, trustworthy in your teaching, your words solid and sane. Then anyone who is dead set against us, when he finds nothing weird or misguided, might eventually come around.

^9-10 Guide slaves into being loyal workers, a bonus to their masters—no back talk, no petty thievery. Then their good character will shine through their actions, adding luster to the teaching of our Savior God.

^11-14 God’s readiness to give and forgive is now public. Salvation’s available for everyone! We’re being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears. He offered himself as a sacrifice to free us from a dark, rebellious life into this good, pure life, making us a people he can be proud of, energetic in goodness.

¹⁵ Tell them all this. Build up their courage, and discipline them if they get out of line. You’re in charge. Don’t let anyone put you down.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Jesus sacrificed his life for ours so that our sins would not be held against us.  He came to seek and to save the lost.  At the Lord’s Tables, Jesus said, “Take and eat, this is my Body broken for you” as he served the Bread of Life, blessed by God.  He also took the Cup and said, “This is my blood shed for you, drink all of it.”  How beautiful is our Lord who gave us the recipe for life eternal!

Jesus gave us the recipe for living a God-filled life on earth.  He became a friend of the sinner and brother of the poor. He touched their sores, brought sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf.  Jesus felt their tears and paid for their mistakes. He welcomed children and blessed them. Then Jesus who had power to stop the insanity of dying on a cross of excruciating pain, stayed there because of His love for each one of us.  He died for our sins—all of them.  Jesus was put into a tomb but came out three days later, scars and all, to declare the glory of God while defeating death.  He promised we’d do the same if we believe in Him.

When fear overcomes us, Jesus shared the message. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me . . . I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am,” John 14:1,3.

“Tell them all this,” says Paul to Titus.

How do we respond?

Some pretend Jesus didn’t and doesn’t exist. Some occupy themselves with a study of Him but ask nothing from Him.  Others hear him, and are impressed by Him, but don’t really believe in him. It’s not easy for some to believe that God would go this far to sacrifice His Son to save us and take us home.

But then, a few decide to give this recipe for life a try. They venture out to “taste and see—and be filled.” Each day they look toward the sky. They look for and are waiting for the day Christ comes.  Paul teaches Titus this recipe for a God-filled life—

“This new life is starting right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears.”  Paul tells Titus to tell others to be ready for that Day. 

Don’t mess with the recipe!  Follow Jesus who knows how it will all turn out in the end!  Don’t substitute or mix in other ingredients.  Don’t leave out anything that is absolutely necessary to live a God-filled life in Jesus.

“The Lord will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.” Psalm 34:22

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

Lord,

Thank you for the recipe for life eternal! Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.  Lead us not into the temptations to altar the recipe for life but instead deliver us from evil.  For you have all power, to you be all glory!

In Jesus Name, Amen