Cupcake

Lessons From A Cupcake
Julia Bettencourt

” 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

What I love most about cupcakes is baking them and decorating them. I have several cupcake recipe books with all kinds of variations and decorating ideas. 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.

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 bake cupcakes, my kids have to look over all of them before they pick one. They usually take their time before they get the one they want and go on their way. They 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 and I like making them that way, 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 my husband will steal cupcakes off the cooling rack before I can get mine 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?