Cooking, baking and candy making all involve chemistry: the “science that deals with the composition, structure, and properties of substances and with the transformations that they undergo” (Merriam-Webster).

This type of chemistry can be quite rewarding as the scientist works to combine a group of ingredients that will undergo a transformation and become a new, and hopefully delectable, edible substance.

Kitchen scientists must be cautious; however, as they work to prepare their culinary delights knowing that any misstep could bring disastrous results. The careless measuring of ingredients or inattention to specific details in directions could render your cuisine inedible.

Just imagine the cruel taste of pies, cookies or cakes without sugar and I’m sure you’ll understand the importance of following directions, and using all the correct ingredients in their proper proportions.

I have faced many culinary failures over the years, and have usually been able to trace them back to some failure on my part in adhering to the directions given in the recipe. Those failures have helped me become a better cook, simply because they gave me enough empirical knowledge to realize the importance of respecting the rules of chemistry.

And while I love to encourage my readers to experiment in creating new recipes for their families to enjoy, I write mainly to encourage them to follow and respect the laws of God since success in the spiritual realm has eternal consequences.

My readers may then ask: What are the essential ingredients in a successful Christian life? My first thoughts lead me to respond by writing that they are faith, hope and love. Faith, like flour, is the main ingredient in the Christian life. Faith in God and Jesus Christ His Son is essential; salvation is the result of our faith in Jesus Christ. It produces hope, a confident expectation, which all believers share of eternal life in heaven, honey to the soul; and produces the oil of joy as the love of God flows into our hearts.

In preparing any recipe, it is especially important that all ingredients be properly measured. Most bread and cake recipes call for a leavening agent such as yeast or baking powder. Yeast is a particularly powerful substance; add too little and the dough won’t rise, add too much and the dough will overflow. Yeast, therefore, can be a dangerous ingredient.

In the Bible yeast or leaven is used to symbolize sin. And every mature believer understands that allowing even a little sin into one’s life often brings disastrous consequences.

Sinners must recognize their need for a Savior who will cleanse them from all unrighteousness in order for them to establish and maintain a relationship with a holy God. Walking in sin is tantamount to treason; especially in light of the fact that God sacrificed the life of His Only Son to procure our pardon.

Salt is another powerful ingredient that flavors the foods we cook or bake; and it is also used as a preservative. Christians have been called by Christ to act as salt in the world; to add flavor while preserving society from decay.

Spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves do more than simply flavor our culinary creations, they add fragrant aromas that stimulate the palate and even heighten the enjoyment of our foods. And, it is my hope, that believers would walk in such close contact with the Lord that they would become an aromatic fragrance to those in their constant society.

Even experienced cooks are careful when altering any recipe knowing the results might be unpleasant. And mature believers should be aware that adding to or taking away from God’s Word will inevitably bring them unwanted consequences. And just as a good cook avoids contaminating their creations with toxic ingredients, believers, who want to remain in good spiritual health, should refrain from allowing any toxins (sin), even small ones, into their lives as well.

Baking a cake or a loaf of bread requires the use of an oven whose temperature must be just right for the transformation of the blended ingredients to occur. If the oven is too cold, the cake will not bake; if it is too hot, it will burn. Believers, on occasion, must spend some time baking in an oven of affliction or pain. During those times they can trust the Lord to keep the oven at the appropriate temperature so their transformation will occur without burning.

If you’ve ever tasted hot baked bread fresh from the oven, smothered in butter and dripping with honey, then you know the delight it brings not only to the senses, but to the ego as well for a job well done. And those believers who have endured, persevered and matured throughout their lives will find at the end of their earthly journey that they have indeed been transformed into something truly wonderful.

Every cook will occasionally experience failure; fortunately, a burned loaf of bread or an inedible cake won’t affect any of us too dramatically. BUT, ignoring the Lord and His free offer of salvation, or breaking His commands as outlined in the Bible will bring eternal consequences that no one should ignore.

NOTE: Scriptures to support my thoughts are included below.

Faith, Hope, and Love
Romans 5:1-6
1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

3And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

4And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

5And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

6For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. KJV

Faith
Habakkuk 2:4
4Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. KJV

Ephesians 2:8-9
8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. KJV

Hope
Psalm 78:7
7That they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, But

Titus 1:2
2In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; KJV

Titus 3:7
7That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. KJV

Love
Proverbs 8:17
17I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. KJV

1 Corinthians 13:13
13And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. KJV

Leaven
1 Corinthians 5:6
6Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? KJV

Salt
Mathew 5:13
13Ye 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. KJV

Fragrance
2 Corinthians 2:14-16
14Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

15For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:

16To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? KJV

Transformation
Romans 12:1-2
1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. KJV

2 Corinthians 3:18
18But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. KJV

Salvation and Condemnation
John 3:16-21
16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

20For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

21But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. KJV