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Dear One,
Andy’s editor had
just given him the chance of his young newspaper-reporting career.
He had been assigned the feature story for the Friday edition of
their small town newspaper – the annual County Fair!
Andy had hoped to report on the outcome of the livestock auction
or tractor-pull but that hadn’t been his luck.
He was about to enter the world of cocoa cake recipes.
That’s right. He
was going to report on a blue ribbon winning cake at the Annual
Bake-Off. He shrugged off
any ideas that he had about livestock and farm equipment and decided to
make the most of the assignment. He grabbed a camera, his writing pad
and was out the door.
When
he arrived at the fairgrounds, he made his way through the exhibit hall
to the baked good sections. He had never seen so many women in one place at one time.
As he listened to their conversations, he learned that this
year’s participants in the Bake-Off had been instructed to create a
frosted, layered cake from “scratch” and had to use ¼ cup of
Hershey’s Cocoa [they were a sponsor of this year’s event]. He wasn’t quite sure what the term “scratch” meant but
he was certainly interested in anything chocolate!
From what Andy could tell, Miss Emma
Watkins had out done herself this year and truly wowed the judges.
She had won this year’s Blue Ribbon award for the first time in
her long baking career. Andy pushed his way through the crowd of women
around Emma’s award winning creation to photograph the magnificent
masterpiece. As he turned
to grab his camera, he inadvertently bumped into an elderly woman who
teetered off of her feet and on to the floor.
Andy didn’t even notice his faux pas.
He was too busy aiming his camera at the chocolate concoction.
It was a delight to his senses.
The thick icing and the smell of chocolate were absolutely
intoxicating. He made a couple of attempts to photograph the cake but
became frustrated when the crowd around the table made it too difficult.
So, he gave up and began to look for Miss Watkins.
He stuck his finger in the rich icing and then panned the crowd
in search of the cake’s creator.
Who was this Emma Watkins any way?
Isn’t that just like us human beings?
More times than not, we’re much more interested in the creation
than the creator. We give
more value to that which is created rather than to the one with the
ability to create. Nine out
of ten times it’s the shape and design that impresses us. It’s the intricacies of detail or the depth of color that
bring a smile to our faces. But
rarely are we as interested in the designer, the artist or the creator.
Who knows - perhaps created things appreciate other created
things. . .
Hmmmm.
That may be a thought, but there is something about wanting to
give credit to the creation rather than the creator.
Believe me, we do it all the time.
Especially when it comes to spiritual things.
Think about it, dear friend. How often do we give full and complete credit for the fall of
man to the first man, the created one – Adam?
Most of us would wholeheartedly agree that because of Adam, all
of mankind became sinners, children of wrath, spiritually dead, enemies
of God, unrighteous, ungodly, and on and on and on.
Most would say that Adam accomplished this through his one act of
disobedience in the Garden.
“Therefore,
just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through
sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.”
Romans 5:12
However, how often do we really give
full and complete credit to the FINISHED work of the cross of Jesus
Christ, the Creator of all things?
Many will debate with one another about what Jesus might have
done or what Jesus almost did or even what Jesus will be able to do with
our help. Think about it!
Whether we’re aware of it or not, this is what we are implying
about Adam and Jesus:
Adam was able to impact all of mankind
with his one act of disobedience [Romans 5:12-19; Ephesians 2:1-3;
Colossians 1:21; 1 Corinthians 2:14, 15:21-22] because all were made
sinners. But what we often
say with our misleading actions and words is that Jesus was only able to
get the ball rolling with His one act of obedience.
Why? Because we tell
folks that it’s Jesus plus what we do or what we don’t do!
Ask yourself this question - if Adam didn’t require our
assistance, why does Jesus?
What else would we be saying if we
imply that there is one thing that we must do to make ourselves
righteous? We are saying that Jesus wasn’t powerful enough, capable
enough, and mighty enough to make things “right” after Adam. When we add anything to Jesus’ finished work on the cross,
we are in fact saying that Jesus was not able to remedy Adam’s
disobedience. . .alone. Jesus
requires a team effort - Jesus plus you and me.
But that’s not what the Word says, my
dear friend. Read 1
Corinthians 1:30, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who
became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and
redemption.” And then add
1 Peter 1:3-5; Romans 5:15-19; all of Romans 6; Ephesians 3:20, 5:8;
Galatians 4:5-6, 6:15 and on and on and on.
Jesus has done it all!!!
“For He has delivered us from the
domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved
Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Colossians 1:13-14
And not only has He “cleaned up”
after Adam, once and for all, but He has freely given us a life beyond
imagination. A life that is characterized by words like grace, rest,
forgiveness, freedom, liberty, acceptance and love.
Oh, He is so much bigger than we give Him credit for being – He
is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End – He is THE
CHRIST! He is in all
things, before all things and in Him all things hold together.
He is a one-man show, if you will.
He ALONE has done it all on our behalf.
And that is what our friend, Andy,
would find out about Emma Watkins. . .once he finally found her.
Not only did she make her Greatest Cocoa Cake from scratch but
she did it all by herself. At
eighty-three years of age, Emma wasn’t about to start asking for help
in the kitchen. As Andy continued to pan the crowd, he noticed a
small yellow hat slowly rising from the exhibit hall floor.
Underneath the brim was a shaken Emma Watkins.
That’s right. Andy
had managed to upend the subject of his first newspaper story.
Eventually Andy managed to get some
information from Emma about herself and her blue ribbon winning
creation, but Miss Emma Watkins wasn’t too keen on him or his methods.
As Andy concluded his interview, he turned to put up his camera.
It was then that Emma scooped up some icing from the cake and
then asked to shake Andy’s hand. He had the funniest expression on his face as he felt
the icing ooze out of their clasped hands.
A smile began to grow across Emma's face as she watched his
surprise. She looked up
sweetly into Andy's eyes and said, “My dear boy, anyone can bake a
cake. But it’s the icing that makes the difference. Wouldn't you
agree?”
“For the wages of sin is death, but
the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23
I love you,
Marcy
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