Ingredients

So I'm sorry for not writing much lately. I've come up with this excuse: I'm getting to the point where there is not much new going on. For the most part, I'm going to the same places, seeing the same people and doing the same things. Writing on this blog is not as easy anymore, because I don't really feel like a tourist anymore. But the good news is that the things I am doing and the relationships I have are being strengthened. At first, I was very overwhelmed with everything. There were so many people with needs. How could I possibly help all those people? Then I remembered that I am only one piece of the puzzle. My job is definitely not to do it all. Instead of doing a little bit for a lot of people, I feel like God is asking me to put a lot of effort into a few people. (Which kinda reminds of the song "The World" by Brad Paisley) I can handle that.

Only Jesus can be Jesus to everyone. Ephesians 5:1-2 tells us to "Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God."


So here was my problem and what I've found:

The Bible tells us to "Imitate God, in everything you do." That's a pretty huge responsibility for a human. Why would God ask a sinner like me to do something impossible like that? Is it possible to do what God would do in every situation? After all, we know that imitations are never as good as the real deal. Every time I make a mistake, I am not being an imitator of God. Yet, every time I have made a mistake, I have ignored the Holy Spirit, which God has put inside of me for those very moments.

Our responsibility is to imitate God. As much as we try to be perfect, we just cannot do it. I would say on average we do a pretty horrible job at reflecting Christ. In spite of this, I believe God has given us the ability to imitate and reflect Christ: One person at a time, one moment at a time. So we cannot be like Christ on a Christ-sized scale, but what if in the smallest of things we could show Christ? What if we broke things down and started small? With the things closest to us?

Here's another way to explain it:

Jesus is the master chef. He knows exactly how much of each ingredient to put in his masterpieces. Every ingredient has it's purpose. And too much of one ingredient will throw everything off.

Lets just say that I could be 3% as Christ-like as Jesus. This number seems so low, that it makes me not even want to try. But Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. Jesus acknowledges that i might only have 3% to give...but he can work with that... Jesus doesn't ask one ingredient to be more than it is. So what if instead of worrying about the 97% that we don't have to give anything, we focused on one percent at a time. When we zoom in on those first three percentage points, we see that we can be everything that is needed. (This is getting confusing) That means that 3 percent of the time we can give 100 percent and we can let God (in his crazy, secret, perfect ways) fill in the rest.

Mark 12:41-44
"Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, 'I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.'"

So my conclusion is that even though we cannot be perfect, we are asked to offer up what we have to give. Jesus is always there to fill in the rest, but he asks us to try our best. I've also found that when you work hard on the quality of the smallest building block, the final structure turns out pretty nice. Think of sometime where someone seemed very much like Christ in your life. Aren't you glad they offered up what they had to give even though it didn't seem like much? Are you giving any effort?