All In

Jesus is able and, more astonishingly, willing to use whatever is at hand. 

A small lunch of a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish were used to feed a hillside covered with hungry bellies. Some dirt and spittle became ointment that opened two blind eyes.  A prostitute’s body became a vessel of belief and holiness and good works.  A stormy sea became the canvas of power and peace.  A tomb became an empty room because it had no purpose anymore. 

There is nothing in your day that He can’t work with.  He created every molecule we’ve ever seen (and every one we haven’t yet) to be a part of the great story.  He made every human being to know the joy and freedom of the dance.  He designed all the rest of creation to speak of His goodness and His ways. 

Bring your life…body, mind, spirit…time, will, abilities…attention, resources, dreams…dishes, laundry, every moment of the work day and the errands and the play of your week.  Especially bring your mistakes, your heart (broken though it may be), and all the stuff that you’ve consider a waste.  Not everything has been for your good, but it can all be an ingredient of the phenomenal recipe of redemption, a testimony of the power and purpose of what He can do with a life. 

You may be familiar with the cooking show where the baskets of ingredients for the dish hold some bizarre things the chefs are required to use.  Never forget that Jesus is the most amazing chef ever.  There is nothing in the basket of your life that will make Him unable to produce a delicious result.  Our willingness is the crucial ingredient in the recipe of a masterpiece and there is NO end to the pantry and fridge He has access to if we bring that to the table.

Honestly, there may be some cutting and simmering ahead in your life, but you truly don’t have to worry, for He knows exactly what He is doing and will not for a second do anything that isn’t for the glorious recipe He is creating.

He’s already been declared the winner.  He (and you) will not be chopped.  So jump into the basket of the contest today and see what He will do with you. 

You may think that I’ve stretched for an analogy here, but you mustn’t forget that this line of thinking (fragile lives from baskets) is totally biblical…God was pretty impressive with a little guy called Moses when He lifted him from one.