My mom made some of
the best chocolate fudge in the world! Growing up, I would beg and plead to eat
the fudge remaining in the pot after she poured out the hot contents into a
glass cake container already coated in butter to cool. Then if it hardened, she
would cut the fudge into serving pieces. Her fudge-making always had a
temperamental side to it; the fudge did not always cooperate in hardening. For
me, this was the one delicacy that I could take solid or soft, preferably the
former.
In all the years of
making fudge, she never wrote down the recipe or the instructions for me. For
her, the process was more from memory and a free-spirited kind of approach to
fudge making but that was her way of doing things in the kitchen, a little bit
of this, a little bit of that with no measurement, per se. This way of cooking
or baking still drives me bananas!
Not to be overly
melodramatic, but I did have a growing fear of her taking that recipe to the
grave one day, barring the rapture. I just couldn’t stand by and allow a
national treasure to disappear. So, after many years had passed, I finally got
my mother to make some fudge while she was visiting me up here in Tennessee,
and I finally wrote down the recipe and instructions. I was
blessed to capture a modeled batch of some of the most delicious fudge you will
ever put in your mouth! In the south, we describe such a thing as
scrumdiddlyumptious, a sweet six-syllable word that brings back sweet, sweet
memories. Thank you, Lord, for the memory of it!
Well, for some odd
reason I got this hankering one day for some of my mother’s fudge. The problem
was that she was in Florida, and I was in Tennessee, and I never was successful
in getting her to send me a fudge-relief package. So, I finally attempted to
follow her recipe to the letter, all on my own; I might add! Beverly would only
fetch the items, watch, and snicker at my clumsiness on the operating counter,
starting with the cocoa spilled all around my feet. She seemed to have much joy
at my expense, watching me labor over the stove rather than worrying about the mess around me!
She was making sport
of my inability to cook not long ago to another couple. She said, “Michael had
that deer in the headlight look when I asked him to boil some water in the
microwave.” Both women cackled, thinking that was so funny. I had that pitiful
look on my face. The husband of my wife’s friend came to my rescue and blurted
out, “What’s a microwave?” I offered him a high-five! Beverly was right; I am
just about useless in the kitchen, except for cleaning up, and even then, I get
into trouble for putting dishes away in the wrong cabinets!
Well, my fudge never
hardened on my very first attempt to emulate my mother’s fudge, and though it
was tasty, it still didn't taste like my mother’s fudge. I was disappointed, to
say the least. That special ingredient missing in the fudge from heaven was my
mother! Nonetheless, I am determined to master the technique of the
Fudge-Master, but I have to watch my sugar intake during the process. God
willing, I will replicate my mother’s fudge one day before the rapture or
R.I.P. when another sugar rush from bad bacteria in my gut comes upon me.
Let’s face it; fudge
isn’t the healthiest thing I have ever eaten; we don’t find fudge on the shelf
of any health food stores; do we? They are only found at popular attractions
for tourists. But what normally happens when our sweet tooth acts up? We give
into those every-once-in-a-while decadent indulgences that are guaranteed to
add weight rather than shed pounds from fellowshipping with some sweet sticky
substance, like fudge.
I don’t know about
you, but I revel in a tastier more chocolaty kind of fudge that childhood
dreams are made of rather than the profane tastes of local confectionaries
capable of only creating a bland brand of commercial fudge that is an
abomination to my palate. Nothing commercial ever came close to the chocolaty
taste of my mother’s fudge. That was my problem; I was comparing everything to
my mother’s fudge.
In the spiritual
world, spiritual sugar rushes are usually impulses of our sinful nature, and it
is without a doubt, spiritually unhealthy for us. I wonder how much different
our life would be if we would only consult the Lord before doing something to
satisfy our sweet sinful tooth (sin nature)? How many troubling issues could we
have avoided before partaking in the carnal confectionaries of the world?
Our sinful nature is like
the bad bacteria in our bodies that simply loves to feed by the dictates of the
flesh (1 Jn 3:16-17). Failing to keep that monster in check can create a host
of spiritual problems. Spiritual fudging is indulging in the impulses of the
flesh rather than walking in the Spirit or evading or delaying a spiritual
responsibility in obedience to God.
Why is there so much
fudging on Christian activities? Because we are craving that sugar rush of the
world over the things of God! We know it can’t be spiritually healthy for us
when we give in to our fleshly impulses (cf. Rom 8:8)! Sometimes, I think fudge
takes the place of faith in our lives because we are so prone to a hyper-busy-lifestyle of working or playing and running out of time for God, a new normal
for most Christians – fudge over faith. We find ourselves making fudge from a
worldly recipe, fudging here, fudging there on those spiritual activities we
are expected to do.
You know what really
causes spiritual fudging? It’s those misplaced priorities from a heart grown
cold for God Himself and the things of God. It seems we are only willing to
fudge on anything Christian and replace it with the things of the world. Too
often we take chances by fudging on our testimony for God, our reputation in
the community, our marriage, business practices, our taxes, and so forth. One
would think some Christians are more interested today about fudging on their
faith!
I suppose it’s time
for us to hear from the Lord’s half-brother, James,
Therefore, to him who
knows to do good and does not do it to him it is sin (4:17).
Oh, let’s put a confectionary spin on the words from James,
“Therefore, to him who knows to do
good and does not do it to him it is fudging (sinning)!”
James had a penchant for cutting to the chase in his day; you can see it in his writing. He’s the kind of guy that would walk up to you in love (agape) and say to your face,
“You say you have faith? I’ll show you my faith by my deeds.”
Allow me to offer a very loose paraphrase on Jas 4:17,
“Therefore, to him who knows to do
good deeds and fudges on that obligation and misses out on an opportunity to do
a good deed to him it is sin against God, others, and ourselves.”
The word, therefore (Jas 4:17), indicates that James is obviously summing up the chapter by putting us all on notice that there are sins of commission as well as sins of omission. We must consider that doing wrong and not doing right when the opportunity presents itself are both sinful. I personally think we are going to be surprised at the Bema Seat of the innumerable opportunities we had to do good and let it slip through our fingers – that wood, hay, and straw quality of behavior, and thus we had been guilty of sins of omission, oblivious or perhaps thinking it was no big deal to the untold opportunities for obedience and being blessed of God (redeeming the time)!
James had built a solid case and concluded that ignorance to do good is no excuse. With knowledge (to him who knows) there is an obligation, not a loophole to opt-out, a responsibility to the light given. The opportunity is seen in the phrase (and does not do or one not doing it). James’ epistle is replete with exhortations on doing good; failure to comply is clearly viewed as sinful for you and me. We know our obligation; we see our opportunity to do the right thing, and we sin to carry it out by not merging obligation or opportunity with obedience to Yahweh, not man.
Let me offer just one question as a matter of illustration that pertains to fudging on our obligations and opportunities for God. Do we make plans without consulting the Lord? That just hits me right between the eyes because I am not batting a thousand here myself! Isn’t that the fundamental question we should be asking ourselves in everything we think, say, or do? Lord, should I be thinking this, saying this, or doing this? Is what I am thinking, saying, or doing in accordance with the teaching of Scripture? God never violates His Word, and He is not too keen on us fudging on it either whether it is thinking, saying, or doing!
The one thing about eating my momma’s fudge is I can have my fudge and my faith, too! I can walk out the front door and into the world and serve God with
a big grin on my face because I’m fudging (medically responsible, of course) in
a “safer” way, indulging in delightful decadence with that big piece of
mouth-watering fudge in my mouth and not missing a beat for God! Life is good.
Spiritual fudging, on the other hand, is a
desire of the flesh in delaying or taking corners in spiritual matters. No
matter how we rationalize or how clever we may be, we are simply not going to
get one up on God because He is omniscient or all-knowing. Spiritual fudging
doesn’t put a smile on your face in the final analysis like eating momma’s
fudge. The bitterness that will come from sin and loss of blessing is hard to
swallow, but swallow we must if we fudge on God; there’s no faith in fudge. In
God, faith is everything.
The world can really
throw out some carnal confectionaries our way to appeal to that sweet sinful
tooth, but the real and lasting smile and satisfaction simply come from
obedience to Yahweh; that’s the sweetest fudge to be found on this planet –
living by faith, and my mom would concur being almost 90! Faith over fudge is the only way to
go. <><
(Psa 119:103) How sweet are Your words to my
taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
(Jer 15:16) Your words were found, and I ate them,
and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by
Your name, O LORD God of hosts.
