“Have you read about the instant cake mix that was a flop? The instructions said that all you had to do was add water and bake. The company couldn’t understand why it didn’t sell—until their research discovered that the buying public felt uneasy about a mix that required only water. Apparently people thought it was too easy. So the company altered the formula and changed the directions to call for adding an egg to the mix in addition to the water. The idea worked and sales jumped dramatically.
That story can remind us of how some people react to the plan of salvation. To them it sounds too easy and simple to be true, even though the Bible says, “By grace you have been saved through faith…….it is the gift of God, not of works (Eph. 2 v 8-9).They feel that there is something they must add to God’s “recipe” for salvation. They think they must perform good works to gain God’s favour. But the Bible is clear—we are saved, “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy (Titus 3 v 5).”
Have you ever been cooking and following a new recipe when you think that maybe it would be better to add a little bit of this or a little bit of that ? Sometimes it works and other times it doesn’t. I remember once I was cooking a pork dish which had ginger in it. I was convinced that the recipe was wrong and that much more ginger was required. So I added quite a bit more and it was terrible. I think it probably put Drew off ginger for life!
God’s recipe, written in the Bible is one where we don’t need to add a little bit. We need to follow it in faith, believing that we are saved by His mercy, not by our merit. Please pray that God’s grace might be known to the ends of the earth and give thanks that as the heavens are higher than the earth God’s way will tower above our imaginings and reign and rule forever.
God bless, Anna.