August 27, 2008

The Right Ingredient

2008 1524 page30 cap hummed as I glanced over the cookbook. I’d added all the integral ingredients for snickerdoodles (popular sugar cookies topped with cinnamon)—and I couldn’t wait to taste the results. I prepared a dish of Vietnamese cinnamon and sugar for rolling the small balls of dough in before placing the cookie sheets in the oven. Baking, to me, was simple and relatively stress-free—all I had to do was add the ingredients and mix according to directions.
 
I set up all the crucial components of baking success: a preheated oven, well-mixed ingredients, and a cookie sheet sprayed to prevent burning or sticking. I thought that I was ready to bake cookies.
 
And yet, my efforts failed. When I spooned a dollop of dough into my hand, it didn’t have the elastic, puttylike feel that the recipe called for. Rather, the batter was grainy and clung to my palms. Puzzled, I retraced the steps from measurement of ingredients to procedures. Where had I messed up? I wondered.
 
In my confusion, I consulted a greater expert—my mom, an extraordinary and experienced cook. Together we reviewed what I had done, but when it came down to the ingredients, she found my error. Presuming that the Tupperware container of white substance was indeed flour, I had actually added powdered sugar to my bowl. Because it looked like flour, I didn’t bother to check and make sure that I was adding the right element to the batter. Thus, instead of the soft, pliable dough I needed for molding, I had created a sticky, worthless mess. No amount of doctoring could salvage my mistake. I had to throw away that batch and start over.
 
2008 1524 page30What a difference an ingredient makes! My careless assumption had imperiled my cookies—instead of checking to make sure I really had flour in my possession, I judged on appearances alone, trusting in my abilities. Ultimately, I had no choice but to own up to my blunder and start afresh.
 
Thankfully, that one failure didn’t squelch my enthusiasm for baking. Lately, when pondering that one mishap, I’ve come to wonder if my lesson in cooking can also apply to my own spiritual life. Being a Christian means incorporating many facets into my life: connecting with God on an everyday, personal basis; sharing my witness with those around me; and affirming others in the faith. Am I missing anything?
 
Perhaps the key component of being a Christian is the easiest to overlook, because it requires no work of our own but instead a surrender of our abilities. In a letter to the Corinthians, Paul declares: “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2, 3).* Any good thing, Paul reminds us, is worthless if it lacks Christ’s love.
 
I may perform many good deeds, read my Bible every day, and faithfully teach a Sabbath school class throughout my life, but nothing matters if these actions aren’t done in the spirit of sincere, Christlike love. Furthermore, any initiative of my own is nothing more than “filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6), because I trusted in myself and not in God. I can never attain God’s greatness; and when I try, I always fall short.
 
Could it be, then, that when I inadvertently substitute my own self-righteousness for Christ’s pure, unconditional love, I become as useless and ineffective as that failed batch of cookies? I am unable to meet my full potential unless I contain 
all the elements imperative to be identified as “Christian.” Thankfully, my Christ is only a prayer away, and He’s already waiting to impart His love to me. All I have to do is ask.
 
As the second set of snickerdoodles emerged from the oven, I inhaled the aroma, glad I had remembered all the right ingredients this time.
 
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*All references are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
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Bonnie McLean, formerly an Adventist Review intern, is finishing degrees in English and history at Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan.

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