Food For Thought

The greatness of God is hard to fully grasp. When we started talking about ways to illustrate that point, it became clear that we needed to photograph something that couldn’t be fully grasped. We needed something so big, and so monumental, and so hearty, piled up to the sky, that it would make a total mess trying to handle with your hands. At first, we thought that a ridiculously oversized burger would do the job. After all, who doesn’t like drooling over messy burgers that tower into the heavens? Then, after talking about it a bit, we decided we wanted to do something more refined, more tender, and more sophisticated. We started talking about brisket.

To smoke brisket the right way, it takes time – a long time. It takes patience and planning to make sure that brisket meat is treated properly. When done correctly, brisket is so rich in flavor and satiety. It’s packed with flavor that melts in your mouth. You don’t usually need a lot to get full. When we started talking about good brisket BBQed the right way, we started to realize that a massive BBQ brisket sandwich, not only communicates the greatness of God, but also speaks to the manner in which He imparts that greatness unto us.

In real life, we can see God’s greatness through His creation around us, but the Bible teaches that the greatest of His work concerns the spiritual regeneration He produces inside the hearts of His people. God’s greatness is more profoundly manifested when sinners are conformed into the image of His righteousness on account of the work of Jesus Christ. Yet, the greatness of God’s work doesn’t happen all at once. Even though a believer is immediately justified and sanctified in God’s economy, the evidence of God’s work in the lives of His people, often takes time. The more time that goes by, the more of God’s great influence can be seen.

This means that we’re like the brisket, in the smoker of God’s sanctification. Before we’re cooked through, we’re a raw slab of meat – useless, but with great possibility if handled properly. In the hands of the Great Pit Master, God is patient to cook us through, keeping the heat at the right temperature to purge impurities and bring out the flavor He wants. When He’s done, the finished product is so rich, packed with so much buttery flavor, unable to grasp fully! When the work is done like in this photo, it shows the amazing things that God is able to do through us to show His own greatness: Taking individuals as portions of patiently and perfectly cooked meat; building them up to be something that is beyond human handling; covered by the sweet sauce of His blood, laying between the buns of the bread of His life.