IF ONLY…

I have an avid interest in a series on Open TV called “Masterchef Australia” . Beginning with twenty-four of Australia’s best home cooks, the search for the best of the best to become Australia’s “Masterchef” starts its course. The winner gets a huge monetary prize, a spot in Australia’s most prodigious culinary magazine for a year, his/her name engraved on a floating trophy, and the title of “Masterchef” for that year.

Over the three months of the contest, with the involvement of world-renowned chefs from across the globe and through a process of elimination, the number of hopefuls is whittled down to two grand finalists. These two experts must fight it out in the toughest of cooking tests to determine who is the ultimate best.

2016 produced two brilliant finalists, Matt and Elena. Their growing skills and consistently high standard of cooking brought them into the final battle. Where Matt’s strength lay in his cooking of savoury dishes, Elena was excellent in both savoury and dessert.

This finale was not only a test of cooking skills but also of determination, perseverance and calm and clear thinking. Since every test took place within a strict time limit, any mistake put the contestants in danger of not completing their task.

The grand finale consisted of three rounds in which both contestants had to produce an entree, a main course and a dessert. Three judges, skilled chefs who had coached and tested the home cooks throughout the process, each scored the efforts out of ten. After 2 rounds, Matt was ahead of Elena by three points.

The final round was a “pressure test” of unbelievable difficulty. The contestants had to produce an exact replica of a dessert prepared by one of the most skilled chefs in his field. Each was given a step-by-step recipe for the dish and all the ingredients needed for each element.

Unfortunately for Matt, in his haste to complete, he misread a step and had to redo his work, putting him behind in his time constraints. Elena also made a mistake but worked consistently and steadily, finally reproducing the chef’s quality dish flawlessly.

As Matt watched in horror, his family in the gantry sharing in his pain from above, his beautiful dessert began to fall apart, and with it his dream of becoming “Masterchef 2016” and the prize which would kick-start his new career.

I watched his face and the reality of his dream melting away before his eyes. I could almost read the thoughts that slowly gathered in his head; frustration, anger, remorse, regret, hopelessness… “If only! If only! If only I had been more careful to follow the recipe. If only I had thought about what I was doing! If only I had stayed focused!” But it was too late!

Elena won the prize, and the title, and the trophy, and the glory of the moment, and the means to fulfil her dream. Matt had to settle for “runner-up” in the grand finale and a lesser prize to help him start his dream.

What lessons can I draw from this magnificent series?

I have learned much about human interaction from the judges and contestants alike; the contestants’ camaraderie, their bonds of friendship, their support of one another despite being contestants, their handling of stress and pressure, their shared joy of success, their desire to learn from failure, their hopes and dreams, the judges love of fun, lightening the load at times and always giving encouragement and positive input, all made a deep impression on me.

However, most of all, it was Matt’s emotional reaction to his mistakes that set me thinking. Despite his loss, Matt could go home and set up his new career, a food truck to supply the most delicious of dishes cooked by a Masterchef finalist.

Elena would also, no doubt, return home with a substantial amount of money in her pocket, the title of Masterchef 2016, and her name engraved on the floating trophy, all under her belt. What then? She would also get on with her life by doing whatever was needed to establish her culinary career.

Another chapter in the lives of these two contestants would be closed. The pain of costly mistakes would be forgotten as they built their lives on their experiences in the Masterchef kitchen. They used their opportunity to participate in a gruelling contest that prepared them to fulfil their dreams.

There is a far more significant contest being fought in the arena of life that is preparing every human being for a future that will never end. Everyone on earth has a death to die and after that the judgment.

What words will you hear when you finally face the Judge? “Well, done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord…?“ or, “Depart from me…? ” I cannot imagine the horror of hearing Jesus say to one and another who never took the time to prepare for this moment, “Get away from me. I never knew you.”

If Matt’s regret was painful as he watched his dream slip away, what of those who will spend an eternity of regret as they watch all light, love and goodness fade into eternal darkness, separation from God and everything good and sink down into an eternity of hopeless regret…”If only…”

The world is full of atheists, both those who live as though God does not exist, and those who vehemently deny that God is real. However, the truth is that God does exist and He is real. The wonders of the natural world are enough to testify that there is a God, so that all people are without excuse. These evidences alone point to the one who made eternal live possible for those who believe that what He has written is true.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. ¹⁷ For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed —a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

‘But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So, they have no excuse for not knowing God.”

Romans 1:16-20 NLT

Like a circular tape that plays the same words over and over, those who forget God will remember again and again their wasted opportunities. They could have had an encounter with Jesus and received the gift of eternal life but they did not. They could have confessed Him as their Lord and believed in their heart that God raised Him from the dead, but they did not. They could have secured a future in the presence of God, enjoying the glories of heaven by believing in His name, but they did not.

They were too busy playing in the world of transient pleasures to heed His call and His warnings. They considered the world’s trinkets of more value than eternal life.

Could an eternity of excruciating regret be the fires of hell of which Jesus spoke? Could everlasting, relentlessly driving, but unfulfilled lusts, ungodly desires and addictions be the burning passions of hell?

“If only…” is a regret that will never have closure in the life to come if you never answer the one most important question in this life, “Who do you say that I am?” If you do not bow to Him as your Lord (your Supreme Authority in this life), you will fall before Him as your Judge to be consigned to an eternal hell of regret, “If only…”

The greatest of all sin, leading inevitably to all lesser sins, is to ignore and reject the one who commands you to repent and believe the good news.

“… When the Lord Jesus appears from heaven, He will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.”

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 NLT

We have been warned. Satan told Adam, “You will not die!“, but, sadly, Adam believed his lie, and death came upon the whole human race. Do not allow his lies to keep you from believing and embracing the truth.

“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

John 14:6 NLT

Read the “recipe”…read the Book. All the instructions you need to believe and receive the gift of eternal life are in the Book.