Ooey Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies by Paula Roach

Ooey, Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies

One of my older sisters, Shari, has many talents. Two that stand out to me are her ability to sing like Pat Benatar and her baking abilities that outshine Martha Stewart. I seriously do not know any one who makes better chocolate chip cookies or apple pies. It stinks that she lives so far from me because I never get to enjoy her tasty treats. (I miss you too, Shari, not just your fabulous baking!)

I, on the other hand, do not possess either of these talents. I love to sing but those standing close to me would probably prefer I whisper. I don’t particularly enjoy baking because I do not like using recipes.

I enjoy cooking because I can just kind of skim recipes for dinner ideas, cooking times and temperatures and I can make the rest up. With baking, if you want to personalize the recipe or make alterations you have to be pretty familiar with the science and rules of baking or even the smallest adjustments to the recipe can bring about very unsatisfying results.

Now some of you may settle for the Betty Crocker or Nestle Toll house cookies that you just spoon out the dough, place them on the tray, and stick them in the oven. Or, perhaps you have your own recipe that is pretty good. I must admit, I am pretty satisfied with some of these alternatives, especially when they are hot, right out of the oven. A little crispy on the outside but nice and gooey inside!!! YUMMY! That is until I try one side by side with Shari’s cookies. Then I realize what I had been missing. Once you taste them you see just how good they are. Fresh out of the oven or cooled off the next day, you realize you have just experienced the best chocolate chip cookie ever. In that moment you want the recipe and make a choice to follow it to the detail in hopes to get the same results.

But time passes. I go home and decide I want some of her cookies. I pull out the recipe but think my way will be just as good. I make some alterations. I decide to subtract a cup of sugar, add an extra teaspoon of salt, raise the cooking temperature another twenty five degrees and cook them ten minutes less because I am craving something salty and I am in a hurry. The timer bell goes off. I pull them out of the oven ready to devour some delicious cookies. Instead of pulling out my sister’s warm, ooey, gooey chocolate chip cookies I find hard, burnt, salty and not so tasty cookies.

I cannot believe Shari would give me such a bad recipe. I wasted all this time and money making these cookies and this is what I get?! It’s not fair. Shari’s cookies are better than mine.

Oh wait. I chose not to follow the recipe! I cannot expect the desired results if I am unwilling to make the choices to follow the recipe.

So many of us want to make alterations and adjustments to the Word of God yet we expect the get the same end results promised for those who obey. We add a little something here because it sounds good. We take a little out there because it's easier.

Like baking, it doesn’t work that way. If we expect to receive the perfect chocolate chip cookie, we have to follow Shari’s recipe. If we want the results of a godly life, we have to stop picking and choosing what we want to believe from the Word and what we choose to apply to our lives. Small adjustments to the Word may not be as obvious or disturbing so we tend to settle for good in our lives when the best is available. (Kind of like the pre-made chocolate chip cookies...)

The further we stray from the recipe of the Word, the more unsatisfying our lives will be and the more frustrated we become. Our choices and interpretations of scripture must line up with the rest of the Word or the results may be less than desirable.

It’s time to quit being frustrated with God and with life for not getting the results we expected or hoped for.  If we want different results, it is time to try a new recipe.

Or perhaps life is good but you are ready for more.

God has given us a recipe for living in His Word. As we get into His Word and do what it says (James 1:22) we will see that His recipe for living truly does bring the abundant life promised in John 10:10. (By the way, we cannot just skim it either, like I prefer to do with cooking. We have to actually read the Word and follow it.)  

Psalm 37:4 tells us to “delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Isaiah 58:14 also makes promises for those who delight in Him. A simple way to define “delight yourself in the Lord” is to give ourselves to God and all of His ways with pleasure. 

Do I want to experience all of God’s promises or just some? Do I want to experience a good life or life to the fullest?

Psalm 34:8 says to “taste and see that the Lord is good.” I believe that once we have truly tasted the life with God that He has promised in His Word, we will be ready to throw out all other recipes and follow only His!