I love to cook. As much as I enjoy eating, I think that I might actually enjoy cooking more. Sounds weird, I know. Being here in London has afforded me the time and opportunity to use whatever skill I have in the kitchen to benefit my teammates. The base where we have stayed after Christmas has a really sweet kitchen with all kinds of nifty gadgets that I can use. Mix that in with my heart to serve and I have been active in the kitchen lately. I have not really made anything that I would consider gourmet, but I have made a few different soups, pasta alfredo and crepes. When I am cooking for others is when I feel the need to make it excellent. I get enjoyment when I see people come back for 2nd’s or 3rd’s. I want the meal that I have prepared to be the best meal that you have eaten all day, all week, and maybe even all month! What in the world does this any of this have to do with the world race, or with your faith? Good question, I am glad I asked it. I want Jesus to prepare a meal for me and I know that someday he will. Does anyone think that the creator of chef’s can top anything that the best chef in the world can make? In Psalms 23, David declares that “You prepare a table before me….you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” The author of Revelation continues this theme in the 19th chapter when an angel tells him “blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” Some day, I will get to feast at the most incredible banquet of all time and according to King David, it is the Lord himself who prepares the feast. What I am trying to get at here is the position that we have in Christ. He has made the ultimate sacrifice, performed the most humble act of all time by becoming who we are so that we get to share in the riches that are His from the beginning. Jesus did all He did so that we get to share in the massive banquet where we receive from Him an oil anointing which declares that we are honored guests at this banquet. That is humbling. That is incredible. I can look at all 30 years of my life and cannot even begin to account for all the bad decisions, bad lifestyle choices and rebellious acts towards Christ and scratch my head as I read those passages. As forrest gump said, “some things just don’t make no sense” and from a human perspective they don’t. The truth is that Christ has elevated us to an incredibly high position. In Ephesians it says to “live a life worthy of the calling we have received” and as I have been thinking about that here lately, I have come to the conclusion that it not only means to be Jesus with skin, to be set apart from the standards of the world but it also means acknowledging the position we have in Christ. I think that sometimes, perhaps more often than not, we are happy to sit beneath the table catching the crumbs that may fall off the edge of the table. This is not where Christ has positioned us! He has given us a seat at the table of God and has anointed our head with oil. If we continue to live as one who collects crumbs while sitting on the ground then what does that say about our God? God’s love for us is made to look less than it is when we are crumb catchers. Get up, acknowledge your position in Christ because it will change how you view Him and change how you represent Him to a world that i can personally attest to as spiritually dying.
