Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
I was talking with someone recently about my inability to veer from the directions in any recipe. “Oh,” she said, “you must be a baker.” I wrinkled up my nose a bit and wondered whether I should be offended because, yes, I’m a good baker, but I also am more than competent on the art of cooking in general.
“In baking, it’s important you measure exactly and follow 
directions,” my friend explained. “There’s a big difference in the result between a teaspoon of baking powder and a tablespoon, and between self-rising flour and all-purpose flour. But with cooking, there’s not so much difference between a cup of carrots and a cup and a half of carrots in the result, or between walnuts and peanuts other than the taste.”
Maybe that’s why I feel empathy for those who were bewildered by the concept that sacrifices and offerings were not what the Lord desired once His only begotten Son had died for all. They were used to knowing that Sin X required the sacrificing of X number of goats, lambs, or doves. There didn’t have to be a lot of thought given to what wrong had been done and how to turn away from it in the future; those types of sacrifices are more about ritual and process.
Through Jesus, God showed us He’s less of a baker and more of a master chef, maybe along the lines of those on “Chopped,” that reality show where contestants are given a strange list of ingredients to turn into a mouth-watering course in just a few minutes. It doesn’t ruin His recipe for us if we fail more or less often than the person next to us, or if our sins are more or less egregious. Rather, He manages to make something amazing every time with the flawed, confused mess of humanity each of us brings to Him. All we have to do is surrender our will, and be willing to be shaped in the way most pleasing to Him.
