The Main Ingredient

When I was in High School, many years ago, I took a class called "Home Economics". Just a fancy name for what was really just a cooking class.

My final exam in that class was to bake a cake and bring it to school. Seems easy enough, right? Well, I nearly flunked that class due to one small error. I left out the flour. The recipe had flour listed in the ingredient area of the recipe but not in the directions area.

I was so confident and excited as I began to prepare. I followed the recipe directions exactly, mixed it all up and put it in the oven. I waited and waited and waited.... Paced the floor.... Then waited some more.... I eventually came to complete frustration over the cakes refusal to solidify. I then decided that what I had made was never going to be considered a cake and attempted to take the soupy mixture out of the oven. Next thing I knew the soup that was suppose to be my cake was all over my mothers kitchen floor. AHHH, she’s gonna kill me!

The waterworks began to flow and tears of frustration leaked from my eyes as I stood looking at my final exam spreading across the floor. Not only was my final exam ruined, but I now had a huge mess that would take forever to clean up. Not to mention how my mother was going to react.

Recently, as I reflected back on this experience, it occurred to me that religion is very similar to baking a cake. Just like flour is the main ingredient needed for a cake, Jesus Christ is the main ingredient needed for religion. Just like a cake is not a cake without flour, religion is not true religion with out Jesus. You can take religion, stir it up with all kinds of good ingredients but without Jesus, there is no salvation. Without Jesus religion will never be what God intended it to be. It will never be the bridge to get back to Him. So just like you can't have a cake without flour, you also can't have salvation without Jesus.

Although you started with lots of good intentions, it all falls apart in the end. Without the main ingredient all you end up with is a soupy mess spilled on the floor. Without Jesus, your tears of frustration when everything falls apart will fall on deaf ears. Then when you find yourself in ruins and the mess needs to be cleaned up, who will help you put it all back together.
Only Jesus can do that because just like flour in a cake, Jesus is the glue that holds everything together