Don't Judge a Cake...

I am part of a life group.  It is pretty cool.  We meet once a week and talk about our life, we talk about the message that we heard at church on Sunday and we pray for each other and share funny stories about our lives in general.  We usually meet on Thursday nights and each bring some sort of food to share.  This week it was Asian night.  It was so good, people brought all sorts of yummies to share.  I was happy.  My husband always makes the joke about Chinese food being the stray cats and dogs, so as I was in charge of dessert this time, I made something unique.  I made a special cake, Kitty Litter Cake. 

Yep, it is a cake that actually looks just like kitty litter.  I put it in a red tub that looked like a litter tray and served it with a slotted spoon.  I made homemade tootsie rolls in the shape of poo on top.  It was pretty convincing.  The “poop” was brown and sticky and mounded on top of what looked like sandy kitty litter.  It looked disgusting, but it tasted amazing.  In reality it was white cake crumbled, mixed with crumbled brownies (technically you are supposed to use chocolate cake- but I didn’t have any), then mix in vanilla pudding and topped with crushed honey nut cheerios (again – I had to substitute here because my graham crackers had been swiped as a snack and I really didn’t want to run to the store).  It was a goopy chocolately goodness that dissolved in your mouth, you just had to get past the idea that you were eating something called Kitty Litter Cake. 

While eating this, stories started coming out about things that we thought were one thing and ended up being another.  One of our friends is a missionary and has traveled all over the world, to 35 different countries.  During his travels, he has to be culturally sensitive.  Usually there is a meal involved and usually, they are served and it would be insulting for you not to finish your plate of food.  He was at one meal that ended up being more pot-luck style where he was able to choose what he wanted to eat.  He saw a dish that looked appetizing to him.  It had chunks and a creamy sauce and his mind flashed to potato salad.  He filled his plate up anticipating the great satisfaction that he was going to have eating potato salad. 

 

Potato salad is an American tradition.  It wasn’t potato salad.  It was in fact a salad that was pig ears, onions and mayonnaise, and his plate was full!  Now I have given pig ears to my dogs as a treat before, and I have felt an actual pigs ear before, there is very little meat on those, it is mostly just flesh.  Our friend was in a predicament, he didn’t want to eat it, but he didn’t want to insult his hosts either.  He sat and choked it down, but says that the flavor was in his mouth for a long time afterwards. 

I get the chills just thinking of having to eat that.  How many times do we grab at something thinking that it is what it appears to be and are shocked to find out that it isn’t what we were thinking?  Have you ever used salt instead of sugar, it makes for nasty cookies!  Just like my cake wasn’t what people thought it was, and that salad wasn’t what he thought it was, we are not always what people initially think we are. 

People can look amazingly wonderful on the outside, but when you get to the meat of the matter, they aren’t what you were expecting at all.  In the same way, they can look disgusting and nasty, but be something amazing and surprising when you get to know them.  So often it is easy to avoid the person that looks homeless or dirty, or maybe smells bad.  It is easy to gravitate to the pig ear salad and think that we are doing the right thing when we really should be going towards the kitty litter cake to get what God has in store for us.  Maybe the person that looks like kitty litter, is someone that needs our help, but in turn will help us.    

1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Luke 16:15 He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.

John 8:15 You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one.

1 Samuel 2:3 "Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the LORD is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed.

1 Kings 8:39 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive and act; deal with each man according to all he does, since you know his heart (for you alone know the hearts of all men),

1 Chronicles 28:9 "And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.

Jeremiah 17:10 "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."

Something that our friend told us last night really struck home.  He said that before he went on one of his first trips, he prayed to see the world through Jesus’ eyes.  What if we all prayed that?  What if we all asked God to see the world through the eyes of our savior?  We didn’t judge by outward appearances but instead, by what was inside.  We didn’t ignore those that weren’t like us or who we weren’t comfortable with, instead, all we wanted to do was share the love of Jesus with them.  That is my prayer today.