Please read the following very short story. It will help explain my thoughts later in the article.
THE LEMON CAKE STORY
Frank and Stella are a married couple of 23 years. They are both at home and Frank is getting ready to go out and run a few small errands. During his errand run his last stop is at the grocery store where he is picking up a few items that his wife asked him to. As he is standing in line next to be checked out, he is patiently waiting and scanning at the magazines at the checkout counter. He has no intent on buying any, he’s just trying to fill the waiting time. However, he notices a delicious looking lemon cake on the cover of one of the magazines. Frank is a big fan of lemon cake, so he picks it up and browses through it just looking at the pictures. However, without notice, it’s his turn now to be checked out so he figures what the heck and tosses the magazine down with the rest of the items he is going to purchase.
When Frank arrives back home, he tells his wife about the lemon cake in the magazine and asks if she wouldn’t mind trying to follow the to bake the cake. His wife agrees to make it soon. 2 days later, Stella decides to bake the cake. She turns to the recipe page and excitedly begins to follow directions and prepare the cake. She hopes it turns out terrific. She wants to make Frank happy because she knows how much he loves lemon cake.
I would assume that most of us hope that we make it to heaven, even those who believe there may not be one. Therefore, we occasionally do good deeds, go to church, get baptized, learn verses of the bible and so forth. All in hopes of getting a good report card and allowed entry into the pearly gates.
But why do we do it?
Do we fear the alternative? impress others? pat ourselves on the back? Probably, all these things are our true reasons of the heart, regardless of what comes out of our mouth in denial of it.
Trust me, I’m guilty of it. But I’m also slowly escaping that bondage of thought.
When the above are the true underlying reasons then we are not listening to God at all. Worse than that, we are not truly experiencing Him either. Now that is a tragic loss.
We tend to think we are living for God when in all truthfulness we are living for ourselves. We are only trying to follow what we think are God’s requirements of getting to heaven solely for our own benefit. We are self-absorbed. We fear the alternative, so we do things to get what we want and not what God desires. It’s not about a power struggle with God either, God wants what He desires because it is going to benefit you, not Him. It only pleases Him that it benefits you. We are just too stubborn, and self-absorbed with ourselves because incoherently we always put ourselves first. We just don’t see the difference.
If hoping to get good grades from Him is our reason for doing some things, we don’t have a shot at heaven. Anytime we are faced with fear then self-absorption automatically kicks in. Or, if our reasons are pride and notoriety, self-absorption rears its ugly head again as well.
self-ab·sorbed
/ˌselfəbˈzôrbd/
adjective
- preoccupied with one’s own feelings, interests, or situation.
It’s a natural response we have anytime we are faced with fear or puffed with pride. This is my belief as to why God doesn’t physically prove Himself to us. Let’s say you are in a situation where you have two choices you could make. One being an evil choice and the other being a good choice. Before choosing though, God appears to you in physical form proving His existence. After proving Himself, he disappears. You still have two choices to choose from but now they are both evil. The previous good choice can no longer be chosen based on pure goodness, it would now be based out of fear and self-absorption because you now know He exists. God doesn’t want our intentions to be based out of fear. He wants them to come from a genuine state that is based strictly on faith and pure goodness. Intent is everything to Him!
Why is intent everything? Because intent is pure. Any situation we find ourselves in, we really can’t control the outcome, we think we have control of our intentions, but we don’t have control of those either. Intent controls us. It’s who we are. Think about it, we don’t decide or chose what our intent is in any situation, it automatically registers without thought. It reveals who we really are in our soul. God already knows the outcome of any situation, but our intent is all that matters to Him. Outer goodness is completely irrelevant. Inner goodness is everything. All goodness comes from inside. Take for example a bird’s egg, if the shell is broken from the outside, the bird dies. But if the shell is broken from the inside, life begins.
Do you really think God can be fooled by our motives?
Proverbs 16:2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the motive.
James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
Psalm 44:21 Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.
Why do you think Stella is excited and is hoping that the cake turns out perfect for Frank? Do you think it’s because Frank will then finally profess his love for her?
Of course not, Frank did that 23 years ago and has been doing it every day since, and that’s why Stella is anxiously hoping the cake turns out perfect. She knows Frank loves her.
The point of the story is that God has already professed His love for us. We shouldn’t live our lives doing things in hopes that He will approve and accept us into heaven. Nor should we do good deeds in hopes we obtain extra credit points. We shouldn’t hope for heaven because we don’t want the alternative. We SHOULD do these things because God loves us and declared that many years ago in a very profound way.
He has already promised an eternal life. He never said you needed to pass a test; He has already declared the love He has for you. Christ stated on the cross “It is finished”. The gift has been given. There are no takebacks.
GOSPEL MEANS GOOD NEWS. THAT’S THE GOOD NEWS!
The only thing left is for us to accept the gift. Accepting the gift is not just saying “yes” to it. Rather, it is doing Gods will and doing it only because of how much love He has for us and for absolutely no other reason whatsoever. We should be passionately excited for the same reason Stella was in wanting the cake to come out perfect for Frank.
Sounds like it would be difficult to get to that point of truly believing that. I understand that, but once you seek and find Him, it’s not difficult at all. It’s a joy that cannot be matched. Seeking Him and finding Him will change your perspective on everything.
CONCLUSION
When you truly help someone without any incentive or personal benefit whatsoever, being there for a friend or stranger in need, financial help, labor help, a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on etc. When that is done in a desperate situation or a moment’s notice, Isn’t that feeling wonderful? There isn’t any other feeling that can match that or sticks with you forever. Why is it that wonderful though? You don’t gain anything from it, yet the feeling is like no other in the world. The reason is because it’s the presence of God and not your self-absorbed self.
Allowing God to live through us is very easy to do when you find Him. Because when you do, you will begin to understand that everything you thought was happiness really is a mirage and temporary. Allowing God to live through us becomes an indescribable passion when we do finally allow ourselves to understand. It also makes us realize that it truly benefits us and allows us to see what real life is. What we focus on in our lives, and what we think is important and what we think we need is absolute garbage. Realizing this is not a setback at all. It’s an awakening that cannot be put into words. If you think certain things brings you joy now, then wait until you understand and allow God to live through you. It’s a profound difference of joy! Funny how we yearn for getting to heaven when in fact we could have it already.
The point isn’t to want to get to heaven, the point is to want to get to God.
The point isn’t to hope for it either, the point is to know that you will,
Christ died for no other reason.
What a great reminder of the Lord’s unconditional love ❤️
Big fan of lemon cake myself. Thank God he loved us enough to give us taste buds. His blessing pour out on us regularly as He is the example of AGAPE love. Thanks for the read GB.
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