A Bad Starter

Baking sourdough is a meticulous process that takes time to perfect. Timing and technique are everything to ensure that the loaf rises, ferments, and tastes delicious. However, one significant mistake is the leading cause of a failed loaf of sourdough: that mistake is a bad starter. What is a sourdough starter?Sourdough starter is a live fermented culture of fresh flour and water that is added to the dough at the very beginning of the baking process. The tricky part of identifying a bad starter is sometimes a baker may not even realize that their starter is even bad! That is, until the baker puts the dough through the baking process only to find when it comes out of the oven, that the loaf failed to rise. However, not to fear, a skilled baker can put their starter through a series of tests to make sure that the starter is adequate. A baker can test their starter by inspecting it for any discoloration, slimy texture, a bad smell, inactivity, and a series of failed rises. When the baker finds even one of these signs, the starter is thrown away as just one of these signs is enough to ruin the loaf. Now, would you be shocked if I said that you, yourself, have a bad starter?This bad starter is called sin, and in fact, you were born with it! King David said in Psalms 51, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (verse 5). But in case you don’t believe me, test yourself! Have you ever… Told a lie? Dishonored your parents? Taken the Lord’s name in vain? Stolen anything? Wanted something you didn’t have? Looked with sexual desire outside of marriage? (Matt 5:27-28) Hated someone without a cause? (Matt 5:21-22) These are just 7 of the 10 commandments, and they show how high God’s holy standard of righteousness really is for us to get to Heaven. And if you truly examine yourself on these 7 questions, you would have to admit that you are guilty of sin, and in our baking analogy, you have a bad starter. And whether you claim to be guilty of one of these commandments or all 10 does not matter. As James 2:10 says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” So that is the bad news. You have a bad starter, and if you don’t do anything about it, you will not rise to Heaven whenever you die. But what if I told you that God provided a way for you to get rid of your old starter and provide you with a brand new one! 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us that “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” God provided a way for you to become new!This is not by what you can do yourself, but rather what God himself did for you. Among many things, what he did is that he sent himself manifest in the flesh, Jesus Christ! He lived a perfect life and never broke any of those rules mentioned before. He is the only person you could say had a ‘perfect starter’ and lived up to God’s perfect standard of righteousness. Jesus then gave himself as a perfect sacrifice on behalf of the whole world to atone for all the sins of every person who ever lived. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” On the cross, Jesus, though he was perfect and didn’t deserve it, bore the punishment for every sin you have and will ever do. Then, after he died, he was buried for three days and then rose again, proving his victory over death. In return, anyone who puts their faith in Jesus Christ and his death, burial, and resurrection will be saved from their sin. You will be provided that new starter so that when you pass away, you will be raised like this delicious sourdough! “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians 1:13). If you don’t know if you have that holy Spirit of promise (or in our analogy a brand new sourdough starter), call upon Jesus today to save you from your sin! “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9). “… him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).