I recently made pineapple tarts called Nastar, a very famous type of cookie in Indonesia that is basically a bite-sized ball-shaped tart with pineapple jam filling. To clarify, I did not actually make them per se, my sister did. But I helped with the stirring, shaping, and baking — which are major! It was a very lengthy, repetitive, meticulous process (especially if you are a perfectionist like me).
While baking, I was reminded of an analogy my elementary-school teacher made in which she compared baking a cake and living life. She said the individual ingredients that make up a cake might not be very inviting or delicious — for example, the flour is tasteless and dry, the raw egg’s smell is rather fishy, and the oil is, well, oily. But when all is mixed together and baked, a tasty and scrumptious cake is produced. My teacher reminded us that our lives are a series of the enjoyable and the unpleasant, but when viewed as a whole, they create a beautiful story.
But there is one component missing in her analogy, an additional factor that I realized during my baking endeavor: We need to fully acknowledge, comprehend, and experience God’s abounding grace that puts together everything for good.
As I watched my sister made the pineapple jam for the filling, I saw proof of how the ingredients of patience and perseverance will never go to waste, despite the unpleasant waiting. It took hours of constant stirring and checking while the jam cooked in low-heat. But the jam turned out absolutely delicious through her cooking refinement.
“Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.” (Isaiah 48:10 NKJV)
The same also applies to the believer’s life when Paul says that all things work together for those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28) — the good and the bad, the heartwarming and the heartbreaking, the peaceful and the painful.
Haven’t we all been in that place of constant pain and suffering, be it due to our own doing or God’s sovereignty that allows it to happen? In the furnace of affliction, we are refined (Isaiah 48:10), but at times we only see this when we are able to see the whole picture, or rather, the final cake.
Even more so, we must learn to look into eternity and God’s promise that there will be no more pain and tears (2 Corinthians 4:16–18, Colossians 3:1–4, Revelation 21:4). I am learning to embrace the suffering in life, knowing that the cost of following Christ is a gift in itself and thus, our portion (Philippians 3:10, 1 Peter 4:13, 2 Corinthians 1:6–7, 2 Timothy 1:12).
God’s Transforming Grace
After the pineapple tarts were half-baked, we brushed them with a mixture of egg yolk wash. Coating each tart delicately one by one, I looked in awe at the change of aesthetics occurring in front of my eyes. What was previously dull, pale-looking, and uninviting now looked golden, shiny, and beautiful.
In a similar way, if anyone is in Christ we are no longer covered in sin but clothed in righteousness. By grace through faith, we have been reconciled to God in Christ, our past sins and trespasses have been forgiven, and subsequently, Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to us. You and I are New Creations.
As believers, we are all too familiar with the concept of God’s grace being a gift, an unmerited favor we really cannot earn no matter how hard we try. But we must also remember that His grace empowers and transforms us.
A flourishing Christian life is one that is perpetually trained by saving grace whereby we, as New Creations, live our lives in Christlikeness day by day. This will (and it should) bring about a change in us — in thoughts, in speech, in deed, and in purpose. We toil and strive for fruitful growth in the faith and for Christ to be manifested through us. It is the life of John 3:30 — more of Jesus and less of us.
Crowned With Glory And Honor
“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.” (Psalm 8:3–6 ESV)
The kitchen now smelled like a bakery, and I took a gleeful bite into the Nastar. Remember the egg yolk wash? Because not all the egg yolk coating sat firmly on the tarts, some of them will have a crown-like coating that has separated from the tart base. This crown of egg yolk wash is what brings beauty to the tart and thus, extra value to each of them.
Have we truly understood our value in the name of Jesus? Have we truly grasped the God-given identity we now have by placing our faith in the crucified and risen King? As human beings, we are His most prized creation created in the very image of God and His Word tells us that He crowns us with glory and honor (v. 5).
The definition of a crown includes a symbol of authority and an emblem of victory, both of which are ours in Christ! And glory and honor are two attributes of God Himself as well as His rightful praise that one should never take lightly. He loves us too much to complete our whole “human outfit” by adorning us with a crown that the God-man Jesus also possessed just as He suffered death in our place (Hebrews 2:9).
“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9 NKJV)
Through Jesus, God bestows upon us His other crown of loving-kindness and tender mercies (Psalm 103:4) and through Jesus, we can strive with full confidence and assurance that there is a crown of life that is imperishable awaiting us as we run our race (1 Corinthians 9:24–25, Revelation 2:10).