On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” Luke 10:25-28
The French macaron is sublime. With its pastel crispiness on the outside and creaminess on the inside, eating a macaron is like eating a slice of heaven. Being lighter than air, I’m sure they must be calorie-free!
On a recent trip to Nice, I was fortunate to be a participant in a cooking class where the instructor patiently taught us the art of creating macarons. Although this French delight may look like art, there is definitely a science to making them. As we precisely measured ingredients, meticulously stirred and then carefully piped the dough onto the cookie sheets, it was apparent that there is more to making macarons than meets the eye. The soufflé-like persnicketiness of the dough requires flawless execution. When done properly, the results are incredibly rewarding.
I can’t say our efforts were flawless or that our macarons were a work of art. However, both the lemon and the chocolate macarons still achieved that lighter-than-air quality, that subtle crispness, and that to-die-for creaminess. The result was pure joy.
Thankfully, the recipe for faith doesn’t require a lot of hard-to-find ingredients painstakingly measured and stirred while following the recipe perfectly. Faith isn’t a set of rules and we don’t have to come already prepared with all the right ingredients.
Faith is about love and relationship, forgiveness and redemption, hope and joy. It isn’t a set of rules nor is it about an iron chef just waiting for you to mess up. Faith is based on a relationship with the God of the universe who sent His son Jesus to planet earth to save us from a life without God. To be in a personal relationship with Jesus means believing who He said He was. While the reward for our faith is living in heaven when we die, we also can living abundantly now, with the love, joy, and peace that comes only from Him.
Jesus boiled it down to two simple statements: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. While religion may add a lot of rules, true faith hangs on these two things – love of God and love of others. Faith is about relationship, not religion.
While we must follow all the rules if we are to create a delicious French macaron, I’m thankful that following Jesus doesn’t involve a set of rules. I would never measure up if it did. The recipe for faith is loving God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength, and loving others as myself. The reward is worth more than all the delicacies this world has to offer – that of hope, love, joy, and peace, for all eternity.
Heavenly Father, thank You that faith in You is based on relationship and not rules. Show me how to love You more every day. May Your love flow through me to those around me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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Text and photo copyright © 2016 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
The French macaron is sublime. With its pastel crispiness on the outside and creaminess on the inside, eating a macaron is like eating a slice of heaven. Being lighter than air, I’m sure they must be calorie-free!
On a recent trip to Nice, I was fortunate to be a participant in a cooking class where the instructor patiently taught us the art of creating macarons. Although this French delight may look like art, there is definitely a science to making them. As we precisely measured ingredients, meticulously stirred and then carefully piped the dough onto the cookie sheets, it was apparent that there is more to making macarons than meets the eye. The soufflé-like persnicketiness of the dough requires flawless execution. When done properly, the results are incredibly rewarding.
I can’t say our efforts were flawless or that our macarons were a work of art. However, both the lemon and the chocolate macarons still achieved that lighter-than-air quality, that subtle crispness, and that to-die-for creaminess. The result was pure joy.
Thankfully, the recipe for faith doesn’t require a lot of hard-to-find ingredients painstakingly measured and stirred while following the recipe perfectly. Faith isn’t a set of rules and we don’t have to come already prepared with all the right ingredients.
Faith is about love and relationship, forgiveness and redemption, hope and joy. It isn’t a set of rules nor is it about an iron chef just waiting for you to mess up. Faith is based on a relationship with the God of the universe who sent His son Jesus to planet earth to save us from a life without God. To be in a personal relationship with Jesus means believing who He said He was. While the reward for our faith is living in heaven when we die, we also can living abundantly now, with the love, joy, and peace that comes only from Him.
Jesus boiled it down to two simple statements: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. While religion may add a lot of rules, true faith hangs on these two things – love of God and love of others. Faith is about relationship, not religion.
While we must follow all the rules if we are to create a delicious French macaron, I’m thankful that following Jesus doesn’t involve a set of rules. I would never measure up if it did. The recipe for faith is loving God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength, and loving others as myself. The reward is worth more than all the delicacies this world has to offer – that of hope, love, joy, and peace, for all eternity.
Heavenly Father, thank You that faith in You is based on relationship and not rules. Show me how to love You more every day. May Your love flow through me to those around me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Want to subscribe to future posts? Click here.
Text and photo copyright © 2016 by Dawn Dailey. All rights reserved.
All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
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