Be the Cake, Not the Recipe!

Can we agree that most Christians KNOW a lot more about Jesus, about faith, and about the Bible than they ever really put to use?  We followers of Christ have gone to witnessing seminars, sat through Bible classes, and we’ve listened to the great Bible teachers of our day on the radio and television, and yet how much of what we’ve learned are we actually using?  I’m not sure what my next door neighbor’s name is, let alone whether or not he knows Jesus.  I can’t recall the last person I personally led to the Lord outside of the church building.  And I’m confident that I spend more time on Facebook than I do in the Word.  Are we convicted yet?!

This all brings to mind the experience of leafing through a magazine and stopping to gaze at an amazing photo of what MUST be a delicious dessert – pies and cakes usually catch my eye.  I look at the image, I consider what it must taste like, and will often comment, “Honey, we have to make this!  I’ll bet this would be SO good!”  I follow that exclamation by glancing down through the recipe, noting that there is nothing too difficult about it, and making a mental image of what my taste buds will surely experience when we make it and I put that first bite in my mouth.  Then, I do what most of us do.  I flip through the rest of the magazine, close it, and pick up the TV remote.  Perhaps I’ll tear out the recipe, but usually I just let that potentially-wonderful dessert remain on the page, rather than make it a reality to be savored.

We tend to do the same with what we know about Jesus and our faith.  But the Bible says things like this:

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?...¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden…¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.   Matthew 5:13-16

(Jesus said) “…lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!”  John 4:35

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?...If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,  and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?  Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead…Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.   James 2:14-18

We read the pages of Scripture and we’re fascinated by the truths related to being empowered by the Spirit, or the promise of Heaven, or the joys of knowing Jesus, and then we close the Bible and pick up the TV remote, just like before.  When does faith become action?  When do we start flavoring and preserving as “salt” in our communities?  When do we begin to be a part of the harvest that God has ordained to occur?  God is moving to prepare hearts and minds to be His – He needs US to give the world a taste of who He is! 

King David wrote, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  (Psalm 34:8)  Recipes are great, but it’s the taste that makes all the difference.  When others can “taste” how good God is; when they can sample what it means to be a confident believer in an unsure age; when they can dine on the joys of following Christ; THEN we will have made a difference in our world and shared in the kingdom work.  It’s time to be the cake and not just the recipe. 

Jacob