My breadmaker – part 2 – 16 October 2009

With huge anticipation I tried again - all the usual ingredients but with tepid water.  The machine went through its cycle and to my great joy my loaf swelled and rose beautifully.  When I turned it out it was light, full of air, a lovely texture and great to eat.  Happy days!!  Why did the temperature of the water make such a difference?  Put simply, yeast needs tepid water to react with flour and cause it to rise.  In a cold mix yeast is ineffective.

What can we draw from this story?

Perhaps we could see our life as the ingredients, the love of God as the warm water and the Holy Spirit as the yeast, the life of God.

I’ve known times in my Christian life, especially early on, when I believed all the right things, read all the right books, tried to do all the right things but my life as a believer was cold, heavy and stodgy like my first attempts at bread-making. I often thought to myself – this doesn’t feel like the fullness of life or abundant life promised by Jesus – and promptly strayed from the path on a number of occasions.  Yet how I craved the reality I could see in other people.

Gradually I began to realise that God loved me deeply and that he accepted me completely.  I felt my heart become warm towards Him and my life as a believer started to become full and abundant as I began to feel secure.  How we need the indwelling Holy Spirit; it’s His work to reveal the Father’s love to us deep in our being and to assure us of our place in His heart and family.

Just as we know how good bread should look and taste, we know how our relationship with God should be: full of the Holy Spirit, passionate about Jesus, full of reality and a blessing to people around.

Dear Father in heaven, please warm my heart with your love today