CHOPPED!

One of my favorite television shows is a competition cooking show on the Food Network channel called, “Chopped.” The other day while watching it for the millionth time, it inspired me and made me think about the Christian walk. On the show four chefs face off for a chance to win $10,000.00. During the competition, they are challenged to make a meal from ingredients in a mystery basket. They have no idea what’s in the basket until the host allows them to open it. Once they do they discover an array of odd items like, chicken feet, blood oranges, canned rabbit, asparagus, bitter-sweet chocolate and pickled peppers. They are to take these items and create a tasty dish for the judges. They are asked to prepare the food in three rounds, appetizer, entree and dessert being judged on presentation, taste and creativity. After each round one contestant is eliminated or “chopped.”

There are three judges who critique their meals and decided who will advance from round to round. To help them create their best dish they are allowed to work in a state of the art kitchen, loaded with the finest cookware, utensils, spices and other items needed to make a meal. During each round of the competition they are not only competing against each other but they are racing against the clock, being allowed only twenty minutes for the appetizer round, and thirty minutes for the entree and dessert rounds. I’m sure by now you are saying Gena-Mae where are you going with this?

Well, we are like the chefs on Chopped. Life is the basket of unexpected things, thrown together and thrown at us all at once sometimes. It is up to us to take those things and make the best of what we have, and not to allow circumstance to dictate our Christian walk. Our tests come to make us strong James 1:2-3 says “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, know that the testing of your faith produces patience.” The “judges” are like people all around looking at us expecting us do to our best. Some may not believe in our abilities but we can prove them wrong if we concentrate and are determined. Daily we are judged on presentation, taste and creativity. In regards to presentation in our Christian walk, think about this, do people see Christ in the way we present ourselves? Are we tasteful in our lifestyle as to win other to Christ? Are we creative enough to know how to witness different types of people and encourage them to follow Christ? 

If you ask me The Word of God is like the kitchen because in it we can find everything we could possibly need to survive and make it to the end of this “life’s competition.” The devil’s advocate though is the clock. We must realize that time is short. Jesus is soon to come, and though His word declares in Matt. 25:13 “Watch therefore, for you know not the day nor the hour in which the Son of man is coming.” It behooves us to be prepared because once the clock runs out there will be no “do-overs.”  Finally the grand prize is eternal life, and I believe we all want that! So in the competition of life where do you stand? Will you be the victor in the end or will you allow yourself to be “Chopped?”

 Think about it.