The Best of Both Worlds

I make the best brownies in the world.

 

Seriously.

 

I think brownies are probably my favourite thing to bake (and then eat).  They are a delicious and satisfying sweet treat, somewhere between cake and fudge.  Too squidgy and moist and dense to actually be cake, and yet too crumbly and flaky for chocolate fudge.

 

They are the perfect combination of both.  They are in a category of their own and I can't quite get my head around it.

 

In the same way, I can't get my head around the fact that Jesus was both a man and God.  And not just half man and half God, like a centaur or a mermaid - an odd combination of both things.  The Bible says that Jesus was fully God and fully human.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it [...] The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

 

[John 1:1-5, 14 NIV]

 

The "Word" John writes about is Jesus.  He was with God in the beginning and is equal to Creator God.  But Jesus became a flesh-and-blood human in order to live with us and lead us back to God.

 

In The Message translation this passage reads,

 

       "The Word became flesh and blood,
       and moved into the neighbourhood."

 

       [John 1:14 MSG]

 

God became human through Jesus and 'moved into the neighbourhood'. 

 

Like brownies, Jesus is the perfect combination.  Cake and fudge.  Man and God. 

 

The best of both worlds.

 

 

Cake Mix

I have just put a delicious blackberry and apple sponge cake in the oven and have greatly enjoyed licking the bowl.

 

It is always the best bit.

 

When I am baking, it always amazes me how the raw ingredients are transformed when they are combined and cooked.  Although technically edible raw, the uncooked ingredients by themselves aren't particularly tasty - sugar, butter, flour and eggs.  But combined into cake mix, they are somehow transformed into something delicious.

 

And when they are cooked, they create the most wonderful sweet sponge.

 

Heat changes everything.

 

In the same way, we are changed by 'heat' - by those situations and circumstances and difficulties that 'test' us. 

 

When we find ourselves in tense and pressurised conditions, we often find that we are transformed, too.

 

The Bible compares these situations to the purification of metal by fire:

"These trials will show that your faith is genuine.  It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold."

 

[1 Peter 1:7 NLT]

 

If we are never 'tested', if we never experience difficult circumstances, we will never change or mature or grow.  We won't be transformed.  We will remain as cake mix which, whilst it is delicious, is not all that it was meant to be.  It is not the finished product.

 

And when we face these difficult trials and tests and temptations, the Bible says that we don't need to face them alone.  God will be right there with us and will always give us a way out.  He will take the metaphorical cake out of the oven before it burns.

"No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face.  All you need to remember is that God will never let you down; he’ll never let you be pushed past your limit; he’ll always be there to help you come through it."

[1 Corinthians 10:13 MSG]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baking

I have been enjoying another episode of 'The Great British Bake-Off' this evening.  It was another tense round of delicious baked goods.  This week: crackers, chocolate teacakes and gingerbread 'constructions'.

 

The gingerbread 'houses' were particularly impressive: Buckingham Palace, a Roman Colosseum and Big Ben to name just a few. 

 

However, what really caught my attention was the crackers.

 

There was a lot of discussion and deliberation about whether or not yeast should be used in the dough.  Contestants were undecided about whether or not to add it, because it would make the dough rise and would perhaps prevent their crackers from achieving a distinctive 'crack' when snapped.

 

Because yeast changes things.

 

Mark Greene writes in 'Imagine' -

 

"Christ's transforming Spirit is intended not only to affect everything we do but all our being - mind, body, emotions, will, spirit - like yeast pervading the whole loaf.  whole-loaf Christianity rejoices in the senses [...] Whole-loaf, whole-life Christianity is honest, open, vulnerable.  It does not censor the agony of broken relationships, the bewilderment of unanswered questions, the struggle of work, the scandal of death, the impact of evil on ourselves or those around us.  In sum, whole-loaf, whole-life Christianity embraces the wonders and griefs of humanity in all its fullness in God's world."

 

Later on, he writes,

 

"The parable of the yeast adds another vital dimension: 'The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all the way through the dough.'  Yeast not only pervades the dough, yeast transforms it into something much tastier and much more satisfying - into bread." [emphasis mine]

 

When we encounter Jesus, we encounter something - someone - who changes us.  Someone who transforms us through the work of His Spirit.  Someone who transforms us into something better.

 

Paul describes the transforming work of the Holy Spirit like this -

 

"He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard - things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity.  We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people.  We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely."

[Galatians 5:22-23 MSG]
 

 

This is the kind of transforming 'yeast' I want working through every area of my life.