And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. " Ephesians 5:2
Ok so me and my daughter are hooked on the GIGI's cupcakes....I don't believe you can get any better than those cupcakes. Every time we go to Tupelo, we have to go by GIGI's to try the new flavor. It is also fun baking and decorating cupcakes. When it boils down to it though, it's not how cute and appealing they are entirely but what people think of them when they bite down into those cupcakes. Although, GIGI's is pretty and appealing they are delicious as well.
It's the appearance, flavor, and all the qualities of a cupcake combined that makes it good. There's a similarity between what makes a good cupcake and what makes our lives good as Christians.
- Appearance
The first thing I think we all notice about cupcakes before we eat them is their appearance. When I go to purchase a cupcakes at GIGI's me and my daughter have to look over all of them before we can pick just the right one. We usually take our time before we get the one we want. We want the biggest, prettiest, and the one with the most icing on top.
What do you look like as a Christian? Got your icing on just right? Are you a little lopsided? Are you showing Christ's love to others? Are you pleasing to be around? Are you bearing that fruit that we are to show in our Christian lives? - Smell
The next thing I think we can tell about cupcakes when we pick them up is the smell. Do they have a particular scent? Do they have a pleasing aroma or even a burnt scent to them?
What about you? Are you repugnant to others? Are you living your Christian life with that "sweetsmelling savour"? - Sweetness
As you bite into a cupcake one of the first things you are going to notice is the sweetness. None of us normally like our cupcakes not to be sweet. It's what is expected of them. If we wanted something that wasn't sweet, we'd choose some type of muffin.
As Christians, we are expected to be sweet too. Sweetness shouldn't be something we are lacking in. We are to show Christ's love to the world and we do that by how we act and what we say. Words and actions that are not sweet don't further the cause of Christ. - Flavor
Next as we bite into the cupcake, one thing we notice is the flavor. What does it taste like? Do you recognize any spices, flavors, or special ingredients? Do all the ingredients combine to make it taste good?
As Christians we are reminded to keep our flavor as well. Matthew 5:13 says, "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men."
If we don't live our lives like Christians, how can the world ever tell the difference between us and those that don't know Christ? They won't be able to recognize our flavor. - Moistness
While eating our cupcake, another thing that will stick out is how moist it is. There's nothing I like worse than a dry cupcake. Moisture is a vital part of how a cupcake tastes.
As Christians, when we aren't allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us, we turn out pretty dry too. We don't accomplish anything for Christ and don't bear that fruit that we are told to bear. - Ease of Eating
Cupcakes are made to be easy to handle. It's the biggest difference between a cupcake and a regular cake. You can pick the cupcake up in your hand and eat it. No forks necessary. I love cupcakes that have all those pretty decorations, but sometimes it does hinder the ability to dive in and eat that cupcake.
What about you? As a Christian, are you easy to swallow? How do your actions come across? Are you easy to be around or can you only be handled in small doses? Does your attitude get in the way? - Icing
I know there are cupcakes out there that people don't ice and sometimes if I bake them I like to take the cupcakes off the cooling rack before I get them iced, but really it's not a cupcake to me if it doesn't have some icing on top. You can't have too little or too much icing on a cupcake. Also the icing has to be the right flavor to enhance the cake part of the cupcake.
It is like that in our lives too. We need to have balance and some self-control. Our bodies are a temple and we have to be very careful what we allow into our lives. What are you topping your life with? Are the things you allow in embellishing you as a Christian? - Special Additions
Don't you love those cupcakes that have that extra added surprise to them? Maybe it's a filled cupcake, or has something special inside such as nuts or a flavor you are not expecting. It's that extra special touch.
How about you? Does your life have a few sprinkles or something special on top? Got any surprise fillings that you are hiding? Are you using your talents and gifts that God has blessed you with?
The outcome of a cupcake all depends on it's preparation. It's the same with womanhood and even motherhood. You have to prepare yourself. What kind of batter are you going to be filled with? What kind of daughter, mother, or friend are you going to turn out to be?
For us as Christian women, there's got to be some key ingredients such as Bible study, prayer, and the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Our batter should be all those things we depend on to help round us out and make us into those sweet Christian women that we are capable of being.
We have to allow the Lord to have control of the batter and of the oven settings or we may find ourselves dry, crumbly, and without any flavor. When we don't surrender to the Lord we can easily end up with the burnt smell of sin seeping through our cupcake liner or even come out half baked. Without yielding to the Lord's control it puts our lives in danger of running over the edges, stuck, and crusted to the pan.
