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| Michel Roux Sr Simply enjoying food |
The meek man is not a human mouse afflicted with a sense of
his own inferiority. He has accepted God's estimate of his own life: In
himself, nothing; In God, everything. He knows well that the world will never
see him as God sees him and he has stopped caring.-- A.W. Tozer
I am as some who are reading this know, have a dangerous
passion for food and cooking. And one of my food hero’s is Michel Roux Sr. for
those who do not know who Michel Roux Sr. is, here is the sort and sweet about
him: he is one of the “Godfathers of modern restaurant cuisine” in the UK. He
and his brother are two of the greatest Chefs in the UK. His Scholarship is one
of the most prestigious awards to receive outside of the Michelin Stars. Anyway,
I was watching his new challenge where chefs are competing to get this
scholarship, and he teaches them little tips along the way. Every week they are
given a different challenge, and each time the guys who get through are those
who simply cook understanding the food before him/her.
One of the things that he is always telling the chefs is
that once you realise that there is a natural order for how the food
compliments each other and humbly let them do as they are meant to, once you
simply let the food do as it is meant to then you will produce the best food
the “piece de résistance”. And surprisingly yet not so surprisingly the meals
that won were always made when the food complemented each part and no forceful
change was made to the taste, or consistency.
While I was watching this, the Holy Spirit whispered in my ear,
“this is just like the covenant that God made with you….” I nodded in the yeah I
already know way, and then he said it again “the covenant with God is simple,
all you gotta do is humbly let God work in you to do as the covenant said it
would. Let God change you out of love.”
So easily I had been trying to make it harder than it is. I
had been trying to work out what I had to do and what I was receiving instead
of letting God do the work out of love. I recently watched a sermon by Paul
Tripp, who said that the grace that God has given us is a free and beautiful
gift, yet we do not know how to accept it or what to do with it. He gave the example
of his grandson receiving a gift and playing with the box. We so often do this,
we receive the gift of grace and we don’t know what to do with it.
The simplicity of the message of the gospel and the
simplicity of the connection that God wants with us, may to us, in our sin
filled world of understanding, seem just too easy to receive. We are always
trying to make it really difficult for ourselves when the easy way is being
handed to us on a silver platter. Jesus did not say come to me and then do this
list of things and then you will receive the gift. He was not the game show
host of the krypton factor, no He said,” my yoke is easy and my burden is
light.” Now I am not saying it is a breeze, but if we as Tozer put it, accept
God’s estimate of our life, we will stop caring about the world’s view of us,
we will stop worrying about the future, we will happily humbly step down from
the driver seat and let God lead the way. We will humbly accept the simplicity
that God loves us and we are saved by grace and grace alone, not by works. Then
we will not boast in ourselves, but like the chef who lets the food do the
talking, we will let God do the talking and working in us and through us.
I pray that I will learn this and will not forget it, which I
am so capable of doing. I pray I can humbly let the Potter mould the clay. Lord
teach me and mould me. Praise be to God for the Holy Spirit’s whispers.
Eph 4:4-6 There is one
body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your
calling; 5 one Lord, one
faith, one baptism; 6 one God and
Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you[a] all.
AMEN
