Hot Cross Buns

I love to bake! I've been baking since I was in my 20s... so for a long time. I love the smell! It brings back wonderful memories with my grandma. And baking is therapy for me. When I can't think straight or get my thoughts and emotions worked out, I bake. It calms my heart and gives me a chance to think things through.

And baking and cooking for people is my love language. I might not be able to do a lot of things, but I can cook! And it makes me happy to make the ones I love happy.

I spent a LOT of time in the kitchen this holiday season. And a lot of time decorating cookies! I'm so thankful God gave me gifts that I can share with others and it blesses me at the same time.

One evening as I was decorating cookies, God reminded me of another time I "blessed" someone with one of my goodies. I had made cinnamon rolls for my husband's coworkers and he had taken them to work with him. It wasn't the first time I had done that - I had done that many times. Later in the day, when I stopped by his office, one of his coworkers said, "What did you do different with the cinnamon rolls?" Nothing. I had made them the exact same way I've done them for years. But I could tell by the smirk on his face that something was up.

"What?" I asked. What on earth was he talking about? They then proceeded to tell me that the cinnamon rolls were spicy. What? Spicy? What does that mean? They told me the rolls were spicy - like chili or tacos! Finally, one of them said I should just try one, so I did. And sure enough, they looked perfectly normal on the outside, but tasted like I had rolled them in chili seasoning!

I went home confused. How does that even happen? I went through my steps that morning, I checked my pans, I smelled my cinnamon container... I checked anything and everything! But as I sat perplexed at the dining room table, it occurred to me. I got up and opened the container that my bag of powdered sugar was in. Sure enough, there was the culprit! A paper bag with a handful of spicy seasoning packets in it!

I had been to a craft fair a few months earlier and when I purchased the seasonings, the seller put them in a small paper bag. The bag of powdered sugar I used for frosting had ended up in the same container with the seasoning packets! Mystery solved!

But as I sat at the table last week, decorating cookies and remembering that embarrassing moment, God laid a message on my heart. You becoming who you spend time with. You see, the spicy seasoning packets didn't accidentally get put in the same container as that bag of powdered sugar. Just the opposite. That container was designated for seasoning packets that I don't use very often. A few weeks after I had purchased the spices, I had gone grocery shopping and stocked up on baking items. I had purchased too many bags for my powdered sugar container and had thrown that bag of powdered sugar in the other container just because there was no space where it should have gone.

That bag of powdered sugar absorbed the flavor of the spices without either one of them ever being opened! It never occurred to me that an unopened bag of sweet sugar could pick up the spicy flavors!

But we are no different. How often do we spend time with someone or something we shouldn't? But as long as we're not doing what they do it's okay, right? Or we watch movies or social media clips - we're just staying informed so we know what the world is thinking right now, correct?

Just like that bag of powdered sugar, we might look the same on the outside but we have absorbed some of the world that is not like Jesus. And usually we're the ones that walk into the world's space. They don't have to come to us if we choose to hang out in the same container.

Jesus famously associated with sinners, to call them to repentance and show God's love, but He also warned against hypocrisy and false teaching. Jesus taught followers to be wise, separate from destructive influences, to not be "unequally yoked" to unbelievers or false prophets.

The balance is showing compassion to the lost while being in this world but not OF this world. We can hang out in the same kitchen without choosing to spend time in a spicy container.

How we spend our time is a choice. And we can fool others (and ourselves) because we don't "look" any different than we did before. But they will know the difference when we leave a spicy taste in their mouth.

2 Corinthians 6:14 - ESV

"Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?".