If you have any experience either cooking or baking, you know that serving something that is “not quite done” can be a mess.
My wife makes amazing banana bread. She gathers the various ingredients on the counter in our kitchen, and begins to mix them together in perfect proportion. Oil, flour, butter, sugar, bananas – all find their place in the mix at the right time and in the proper amounts. Here’s the thing – you need ALL the ingredients. Try to make the bread without the baking powder and you’re going to end up with a squashed mess that looks nothing like the loaf is supposed to look. Every ingredient has to be included if you want the proper outcome.
Some of these ingredients taste pretty good all by themselves. SUGAR is top of my list. Mary Poppins had it right, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down; but it’s not bad on its own either! But that’s pretty much it as far as good ingredients. I hear you say, “Wait a minute, Bishop; bananas are pretty good!” Well, they USED TO BE alright, but the bananas that are used in banana bread have to be old, soft and almost rotten. From all appearances, no longer “good,” but actually perfectly suited for banana bread.
Then of course, once the ingredients are properly combined, you’ve got to bake them. And you’d better be prepared to do it for the full amount of time, and at the right temperature. One more thing, the baking pan has to be able to withstand the temperature in the oven, too.
In other words, it’s a process. And that brings us to today’s verse —
I’M CERTAIN THAT GOD, WHO BEGAN A GOOD WORK WITHIN YOU, WILL CONTINUE HIS WORK
UNTIL IT IS FINALLY FINISHED ON THE DAY WHEN CHRIST JESUS RETURNS
The perspective of our preparation doesn’t differ too much from what one might expect of a banana bread mix if it could verbalize it’s thoughts during the process.
We like having one ingredient added into our lives, but we are less than happy with others. Sugar is great, thank you very much. But raw eggs?? And why do I need three of them??? Surely one raw egg is enough, right? And then comes the mixing. All the elements sloshing together in ways that make no sense. There’s no order, and everything loses its individuality. Multiple ingredients that have to be unified in order to prepare them to become one loaf.
And then comes the oven! If you remember the illustration of the goldsmith from “Constant” you’ll recall that a high amount of heat is needed to melt the gold and cause the impurities to rise to the surface so the goldsmith can remove them and purity the gold. Here high heat is the factor that catalyses the mix and makes it ready for its intended use. If you don’t get this part right, you’re going to end up with a gooey mess – and it’s going to be right in the middle of the loaf! Take my word for it, while you may be able to salvage part of the ends of the loaf, you’re going to have to cut the heart out of your bread.
God knows what He’s doing. He mixes you together with other believers. He places you in a church, a vessel designed to hold you together during the cooking process. He brings about situations that put the heat on you. It’s part of the process of preparation, needful to make you into what He needs you to become.
For the oven to have its intended effect, it has to be calibrated correctly. If you have the oven set at 350 degrees Fahrenheit and the oven is actually only 310, your bread won’t be ready when you expect it to be. Your church must be properly calibrated in its handling of the Word of God if it will have its intended impact on you. You don’t need 88 percent of God’s word to have its intended effect – you need it all !!
Oh yeah, you can’t just toss the pan into the oven any old way you’d like. It needs to be positioned properly, preferably in the center of the oven and close enough to the top to get the benefit of the rising heat. You and me, we need to be centered in God’s will, and close enough to Him so we’re surrounded.
But when the bread is done — OH MY !!! It’s beautiful. The aroma alone can make you hungry. And the flavor of those bananas, the ones that looked like they were well past their prime and pretty useless?? Their flavor is balanced and developed by all the other ingredients. It turns out they were each needed, each one played a part. Just like in the life we lead for Christ. Just like the Body of Christ, each part needs the other.
God knows precisely what you need, and He knows how much of it you need and when you need it. He has created good works for you to walk in, and He knows what it will take for you to be successful. He knows how much pressure and heat it will take, what temperature your oven needs to be at, and when you’re “done.”
He knows how delightful your impact will be and how fulfilling the work He has for you is going to feel. He knows when, where and how He’s going to use you for His glory. You’re going to love it!!! It’s going to be the highpoint of your life. And He promises that He won’t give up until you’re “well done.”
Those are the words you’re going to want to hear when you meet Him face to face, by the way.
“Well done, My good and faithful servant; Let’s celebrate together !!
I’M CERTAIN THAT GOD, WHO BEGAN A GOOD WORK WITHIN YOU, WILL CONTINUE HIS WORK
UNTIL IT IS FINALLY FINISHED ON THE DAY WHEN CHRIST JESUS RETURNS
