FULLY BAKED

I originally posted this on Facebook on April 16, 2017. Of course, the time of year is reflected in the content - Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. I want this on my blog, though, because I want my thoughts here for those interested to read.

 

FULLY BAKED 

If you place a pan or bowl of uncooked dough in a room or outside, it will rise, becoming softer and more puffy. It will do so whether you include a leavening agent, such as yeast, or not. Yeast, and other leavening agents, will certainly hasten the process, but the process will occur either way. This is because the spores that cause leavening exist in the air we breathe and are activated by the warmth generated by our sun. They are physically unavoidable.

 

Leavening is used in scripture as a type of, an analogy for, sin. We are told to extricate it from our lives for a period of seven days each year. This, of course, is a reminder for us that we must focus on the sin that infiltrates our lives, on its pervasiveness, and our utter inability to remove it entirely without divine help.

 

In our lives, we experience difficulties – trials – that shape our thoughts, our actions, and, sometimes, our entire lifestyle. Life itself has been called a pressure cooker or an oven. The “heat” of life’s experiences sometimes leads a person to make a statement like, “You can stick a fork in me; I’m done.” That doesn’t mean they are ready to be literally poked with a fork, but they just feel like they are cooked; that any further difficulties will completely ruin them.

 

I want to return to the uncooked dough I mentioned at the beginning. If you bake that dough, without leavening in it, as quickly as it is made, leaving no time for it to be exposed to the environment, it does not rise; it does not become leavened. Baking causes physical and chemical changes in the ingredients that make the dough no longer subject to infiltration of leaven, converting the raw dough into unleavened bread. Perhaps you see where I am headed with this.

 

The process of conversion is like being baked in an oven. We can’t remove the leaven, or sin, from our lives on our own, but God can and will do so when He has chosen to convert us. With His help, sin is taken out of our lives at baptism. We are washed and made clean of sin. Because we are human and not yet fully converted, sin creeps back in. We repent and are forgiven. Each year at Passover, we memorialize the death of the One who died unjustly so that we can be cleansed from sin and absolved of its penalty of eternal death. We wash the feet of a brother or sister in Christ as a symbol of humility and to remind us to keep a servant’s heart. When our own feet are washed, we are once again cleansed of the sins that have crept back into our lives as we recommit our lives to the goal of obedience to God and to seek to have Jesus Christ living His life in us.

 

(Note: A spiritual brother pointed out to me that our washing of anyone's feet cannot make them clean and that my statement above may in some way seem to diminish the sacrifice of Jesus or His power. I want to be immensely clear that nothing we can do will cleanse anyone. The washing of a brother or sister's feet is symbolic. It represents the power of Jesus to cleanse us until He comes and cleanses us completely. Many exercises we go through in obeying God are symbolic. Baptism and anointing are two examples; washing feet is another. In each case, we are following an instruction God gave us. In doing so, we acknowledge that it is God who is Supreme and has all power.)

 

When unleavened bread is fully baked, it is no longer possible for it to absorb leavening agents from the environment around it. When Jesus Christ was resurrected from the tomb, His immortality was restored and He was, once again, impervious to sin – it could not creep into Him. The time will come when we are given that glorious condition. It is the purpose for which mankind was created. God sought to reproduce Himself. He could create beings with immortality, but the creation of righteous, perfect character requires the process of choice under the auspices of free moral agency. A person cannot learn to choose the right answer every time unless there is the option to choose a wrong answer and suffer consequences. We have this human life, with free moral agency, to learn to choose right answers and to learn the consequences of choosing wrong ones. We have an opportunity to learn to recognize God as the only source of wisdom and strength and character; to hone and sharpen our ability and determination to make right choices all the time. We are promised that, if we learn these things and do them, we will be given the gift of immortality in the Family of God. Mercifully, God will not allow any who choose to not obey Him to suffer ongoing punishment for their sins. They will die a second death and will no longer exist.

 

I appreciate this life of challenges. Each challenge is an opportunity to grow and develop. I try to remember that God is shaping me to be a pillar in His Kingdom as a member of His Family. The process is often much like being baked. I have to sweat it out and trust God to keep the temperature at a level I can bear. I have to have absolute confidence that, when I am fully baked, He will take me out of the oven and I will then be unleavened bread, no longer subject to the temptations of Satan and the consequences of sin.

 

I know I am not yet fully baked, but I’ve learned to appreciate the process. I look forward to the day when God says to me, “Well done, you good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your LORD.”