Icing and Sprinkles

Wow, realized this morning it’s been over a month since I’ve written anything here.  So to those of you who appreciate this blog, my apologies.  Good to be back at this today, and to wrestle with God’s Word.

So, one of the things I look forward to every week is hanging out with the teens from our church during ALIVE Teens, which we host at our house on Wednesday nights.  Last night was our Costume Party and our ALIVE Teens Director Julie had a great lesson planned in conjunction with this.

She made a bunch of cupcakes – half of them were iced and half of them weren’t – and offered them to the kids.  The iced ones were beautiful – orange icing with little bat and pumpkin shaped sprinkles.  The un-iced ones weren’t beuatiful.  Just plain, drab vanilla cupcakes.  Of course most of the kids went for the iced ones.

But Julie had baked cotton balls into the iced cupcakes.  It was really funny to watch the kids take these huge bites of cupcakes and cotton balls and get these awkward looks on their faces.  And of course, Julie, being the awesome person that she is had a jar of frosting and another batch of cupcakes for the kids.

Her lesson in all of this was based on 1 Samuel 16:7 and how the attitude of our hearts is much more important to God than our outside appearances.  I think that this is also a great illustration of one of the truths that we find in today’s reading from Hebrews5, which begins by talking about the supremacy of the priesthood of Jesus for our salvation and ends in v.v. 11-14 by exhorting us to take our growth and transformation seriously.

We don’t know for certain which human author The Holy Spirit worked through to pen the book of Hebrews, but we do know that the author was writing to a group of Christians who were struggling with grasping the basics of the faith and taking their faith seriously as we see in v.11:  “. . . you are slow to learn.”  V.12 certainly seems to be written with an air of exasperation, when the writer says, “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.  You need milk, not solid food!”

The issue for this audience ultimately was about their lack of commitment to training themselves to distinguish good from evil.  Like the kids at youth group last night choosing the fancy, iced cupcakes, many followers of Jesus make superficial decisions because we haven’t taken seriously the calling of Jesus to live lives that are marked by inward transformation of our hearts and minds.  V.14 says, “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” 

When you’re faced with a situation in life, are you grown up enough to think through the consequences of the decision you make regarding that situation?  Are you drawn to shiny, pretty things like icing and sprinkles that offer fleeting, carnal satisfaction or are you a Christian that has studied God’s Word, prayed through the situation and is able to think through the consequences of how you react in the situation?  Have you used the tools of Scripture study, prayer and fellowship with other believers to train yourself to think like Jesus? 

One of the most disheartening things for me as a pastor that cares deeply about the people that God has called me to lead is seeing people who just don’t care about their transformation.  It’s sad to me to see saints who have been incredibly faithful for a season of life all of a sudden quit caring about transformation and honoring God and continuing to grow and mature.  I think it breaks God’s heart as well.

In my decade plus of ministry to teens and adults, I’ve come to hate apathy.  And really, this is what v.v. 11-15 are about.  Apathy is the greatest danger to my own faith journey.  When I’m apathetic about my own growth and transformation, I’m impotent to do the things that God has called me to do.  I hate when I get apathetic about my growth.  When you’re apathetic about your own growth and transformation, you’re impotent to do the things that God has called you to do. 

When we’ve decided to follow Jesus, our lives are about so much more than icing and sprinkles.  Our lives are not about what’s easy and what brings us the most pleasure.  Our lives are about dying to ourselves; learning to hate evil and sin and to love righteousness and holiness; and living for the Kingdom of God.  Sometimes, like the plain, drab, un-iced cupcakes that the Jesus life seems mundane and boring.  Sometimes, it means enduring hardship and suffering as God refines us and our priorities.  Sometimes, it means leaving relationships that are look beautiful on the surface but toxic to our hearts as we pursue holiness and righteousness. 

What are you choosing in your life right now? Are you apathetic about the condition of your heart and mind?  Are you missing out on opportunities to honor God and grow His Kingdom because you’re enamored with the icing and sprinkles?  Are you having an impact on the people that God has placed in your life, or are you impotent because of your apathy?