We still subscribe to cable at our house, and for all the nerdiest reasons.  I can live without a lot that cable has to offer, but…NOT the History Channel, ESPN in all forms, National Geographic, Animal Planet…and our personal favorite, the FOOD Channel!  We love just about every reality show they come up with, and one of the best is Chopped.

For those of you not in the know, each round of Chopped features a basket with 4 mystery ingredients that each chef has to use in their dish in some form.  They don’t have to use a lot of it, but it has to be represented.  No matter how much of any ingredient they use, they don’t dare leave it as is – they have to “transform” or “repurpose” it.  If they are given a can of green beans, woe to those who just serve them with butter and salt…they had better be pureed, spiced, pickled…something that will make them stand out and not look anything like what they started out as.  If the chef doesn’t, the judges will be sure to point it out and their score will be lowered.

After spending today in church, worshipping and praising the Lord, and being challenged in my walk with Jesus, it occurred to me that Christianity works in a similar fashion.  God is so much more than a master chef on a TV show…but He does transform “ingredients” (us)!  He doesn’t come in and repair the old (add butter and salt) but He totally remakes us so that we no longer resemble the person we used to be- just like those pureed green beans.  We are transformed by His grace and mercy, and His plan (recipe) for winning the world to Himself includes using freshly created new people to do it!

So as we approach a new week, where we go back out into a bland, old and tired world, maybe we need to check our freshness and see what we are contributing to the recipe.  After all – the world is a very harsh judge, and they don’t miss an “unrenewed” ingredient either!  To God be the glory as He uses each one of us!