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Have Your Cake and Eat It Too
Many are familiar the phrase, “Have your cake and eat it too.” Could it be said this is also an expression of the flesh? How many want all the blessings of God, but don’t want the labor involved? Not to be confused with earning salvation or blessings. Some are not interested in counting the cost, much less paying it. For them, obedience requires convenience. They want both what the world has to offer, and Heaven.
Having your cake and eat it too, means God has to make one happy before he will serve Him. In fact, some have a misconception about God wanting us to be happy. Look it up in the Bible. Is there a great emphasis placed on happiness, at least on this side of eternity?
This leads to another aspect of have your cake and eat it too: it’s impatient. It doesn’t practice delayed gratification. Instead of waiting for the mansion Jesus has for them, they want to build their personal Taj Mahal on earth. Nothing wrong with having a nice house, or even a mansion on earth. It’s a question of it having you, instead of God having your heart. Are you willing to be blessed in the way God wants to bless you? Can you be content with what you have? Can you give it all away?
John 14:1-4 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
Have your cake and eat it too wants to build its own kingdom. How many are so focused on success, they neglect the Kingdom of God altogether? Even in the church world, some want to build their own little kingdoms, and have lost sight of the Great Commission (see Matthew 28:19-20). They want large congregations, with themselves being the Head, instead of Jesus. It’s still the quest for man’s affirmation. Even though we’re called to make disciples, not much discipleship takes place in some of those settings.
Too Much Cake Leads to Indigestion
Okay, so maybe you have victory on the outside, but what about the inside? Would many call your life a success story? Is it truly successful to get the promotion; have the major achievements with all the accolades; and yet, have no joy? If our idea of success is out of alignment with God’s, joy could definitely go missing. Lack of submission leads to lack of joy, which is part of the fruit of the Spirit. In short, if one becomes un-submissive to Holy Spirit, he may find himself joyless.
Matthew 16:26-27 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with His angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
Consider Forgoing the Cake
Being entangled with the world is truly unprofitable in the long run. What is your soul worth? The things of the world have no place in the disciple of Jesus Christ.
1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
What did Jesus say prior to what we read in Matthew 16:26-27?
If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it (Matthew 16:24-25).
Deny yourself essentially says you will not insist on our own way. You will not insert yourself into the situation. You will wait on God. Deny yourself is a place of surrendering to be crucified with Christ. No bargaining, because He is Lord, and you are not. Deny the self is an act of humility.
Taking up your cross is an act of full surrender. It’s a place of decision. By the way, if you don’t deny yourself, you won’t take up your cross. Control freaks hate the thought of carrying their cross, because it means giving up control. But without letting go of it, He cannot lead you. Jesus gave us the perfect example at Gethsemane. It was there He showed us what it meant to completely deny one’s self, and decide to take up the Cross. Following Jesus means complete surrender.
Lose means to destroy utterly, or put to death (total destruction). Losing a worldly life is great gain. Our crucifixion means the death of those things that hinder our relationship with God. Ironically, death is a key to life! So, how tasty is that cake?
