Life hacks and Baking Soda

Just in case you didn’t know, a Life Hack is defined as a technique or a strategy to help you do life more efficiently by knowing short cuts, helpful tips and useful hints.

You don’t have to go to far on the internet before you find some clever soul offering you their Life Hack wisdom….. ‘6 reasons never to throw out egg shells again….’ ‘8 uses for vinegar that will amaze you…..’ ‘13 ways to use aluminium foil that will change your life forever….’. There is obviously a wealth of secret knowledge to be had, and now someone is about to let you in on the secret. You are meant to feel privileged and curious at the same time.

Take Baking Soda, for instance. An insignificant tub of white powder that you might keep in the cupboard beside the flour, sugar and food colourings. Well the humble Baking Soda is insignificant no longer! Now I have been made aware of the multitude of things it can do, I’ll never look at it in the same way again. One online article wanted to tell me 55 different things Baking Soda could do – and I used to think it was just for making cakes and scones rise! Maybe from now on the Baking Soda tub needs to be held in higher esteem in my kitchen. I’m thinking perhaps a little plinth, a small red cushion and tasteful lighting.

What seems like a boring and insignificant product to most people, can apparently have a remarkable effect in many areas of our lives. Interestingly, the manufacturers of Baking Soda are strangely silent about its multiple uses. You find it only in the Home Baking section of the supermarket and they simply tell you that it helps cakes and scones to rise.

Sadly, the Church can behave in a similar way. Christianity is often under-described as simply offering forgiveness for sin and eternal life (which in reality seems to be a ticket for heaven when you die). To many people those two benefits seem insignificant- especially in a society where sin is not really an issue and death is not discussed and best avoided! The place for Christianity, as far as most people are concerned, has become the back of the cupboard; to be reached for on the odd occasions when it is really necessary – when nothing else will do the trick.

The church (we) have not properly let people know what Christianity is and what powerful effects it can have in many different parts of our lives. To those outside the Church, and for many inside the Church, the gospel is merely a Spiritual Book Keeping measure with only a small relevance for today or tomorrow. A set of accounts. In one column my sins. In the other column Jesus’ sacrifice. And if we accept the offer of His sacrifice to cancel out our sins then we get Eternal life thrown in free. Evangelism often becomes about persuading people to avail themselves of either of the offered benefits, Eternal life ( = avoiding hell), or forgiveness of sins (an end to a guilty conscience). Make no mistake about it. These are amazing things to have, but they hardly scratch the surface of what Jesus achieved on the cross for us. Like the Baking Soda, there is more to be seen here than many people realise – even people in Church are often unaware.

For a start, the cross is about far more than dealing with our sins, it deals with Sin which is a far bigger ball game altogether. Through the cross Jesus has forgiven all our sins (all of them, past, present and the yet to be committed ones) but He also dealt once and for all time with the power of Sin over us. It no longer has power over us. We are free. Free to choose. Free to say no. Free not to go there.

We are free from all condemnation, for the rest of our lives, for ever. We are free from guilt, free from shame. No more shame, ever. We have been changed completely at the very core of our being.

We are not bad people who have been forgiven and are now trying to ‘live a good life’. Because we have been changed at our core, (the bible says we now have a new Spirit in us) we are good people starting to find out what it is to live a new different kind of life. We are not “sinners saved by grace”. We were sinners. Not any longer. We have been saved by His grace, definitely.

Here is a helpful illustration: Imagine a frog that has been miraculously turned into a Prince. At a banquet one day, he sees a fly and eats it. It doesn’t mean he is no longer a Prince. It just means that the Prince still has some frog-like habits and desires that need re-training.

There is more! Because of the Cross we are joined to Jesus, for ever; and that was His choice. Where you go, He goes. “I will be with you always”. Not somewhere in the distance. Right there with you.

We have Holy Spirit living in us. God in us. He speaks to us from within. We can now do everything that Jesus did in His three and a half years ministry. We, like Him, have authority over the demonic realm.

We are no longer worthless, no longer rejected, no longer unwanted; no longer weak, alone, fearful, despairing, hopeless or bitter because we have been set free.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 

John 8v36

When Jesus set you free He did a proppa job! And there is much much more. Too much to write here, but let’s remember that because of the cross we have significance, we have hope, we have peace despite any circumstance. I think you could say we have Life.

Christianity is a whole new life to be lived starting now, not a tin to be left at the back of the cupboard for the odd occasions when it is needed.

Enjoy!