Who’s recipe are you following?

As The Great British Bake Off continues, Ivan Radford asks whose recipe and timings you follow.

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of taking a freshly baked cake out of the oven – especially when it’s not gone wrong. The Great British Bake Off, which returned to Channel 4 this month, is serving up slices of those feel-good – or feel-mortified – moments by the dozen every Tuesday evening to millions of viewers.

It’s a magic that’s hard to resist – have you really experienced fullness of life if you haven’t run around the living room shouting ‘it’s biscuit week’ while waving a packet of Hobnobs? Because baking is perhaps the closest thing we get to actual magic: thanks to the astonishing science in God’s creation, and the fact that some curious soul once wondered what would happen if they tried mixing eggs and flour, baking is a mysterious chemical feat. You combine some raw materials, put them in a sealed box and, 40 minutes later, out pops something entirely different. And, even more amazing, something very tasty.

The science behind that magic, though, comes with a catch: if the conditions aren’t right, or the timing’s off, you end up with a floppy meringue or soggy bottom. Who didn’t feel for Hassan’s unravelling Swiss rolls in Cake Week? Or Aaron’s crumbling bridge in Biscuit Week? Compared with Tom’s cute cottage time capsule or Jasmine’s glazed ring doughnuts, it’s always clear to anyone watching when a crucial element has gone wrong.

In our Christian journeys, we can often rush to get something done and miss the key part of the recipe: God’s plan. Psalm 27:14 tells us to ‘wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord’. But how many times have you not waited and instead ended up with a half-baked mess on your hands?

When we try to do things in our own strength and time, we forget the first step Jesus gave in the recipe for discipleship: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me’ (Luke 9:23). Not trusting in God’s timing has been a habit of humankind for generations. Way back in Isaiah, the Lord has to remind his people: ‘I am God. At the right time I’ll make it happen’ (60:22 The Message).

Ecclesiastes 3:1 reassures us that ‘there is a time for everything’ in God’s plan. You probably already know that verse, but do you live by it? That can be even harder to do in a world where we’re tempted to look at others and compare ourselves with them. Their bread might look bigger. Their frosting might be neater. They might have more cupcakes. But all that is a distraction from trusting in God’s timing for our lives. Psalm 37 encourages us: ‘Be patient and trust the Lord. Don’t let it bother you when all goes well for those who do sinful things’ (v7 Contemporary English Version).

Even if the end result of following our own recipe might seem impressive to us, it’s a hollow achievement, as we are failing to give God the glory for our work. He, after all, is the ultimate Master Baker. Yet even Jesus didn’t swagger about in a Star Baker apron, instead choosing to humble himself and surrender his will to God’s plan – a plan that was for our own salvation and good.

That plan is still in motion today. God is still working to give each of us life in all its fullness with Jesus. The showstopper he’s whipping up in, with and through our lives is immeasurably greater than we can comprehend – and, as with any baking, the timing is key.

Reflect and respond

• Whose recipe are you following for your life? Are you letting God set the timer on the oven?
• Write down Psalm 37:7 on a piece of paper or on your phone. Revisit it daily.