A CAKE NOT TURNED
READ: Luke 9:49-56
Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.
Hosea 7:8
“A cake not turned” is a cake that is not ready to be eaten. It needs to mature! It needs to mellow! It needs to ripen! An important aspect of preparation is when you are made to mature and to become mellow. Maturity is the ripened stage of ministry. Maturity is the end-stage of a normal developmental process. When you are mature, you have come to your stage of full development.
To mellow something is to make it soft, sweet and fully flavoured. God wants to make you fully flavoured for the ministry! When you are mellowed, you have been made gentle and compassionate by age and experience.
A minister of the gospel must become gentle and compassionate through experience. The immature disciples of Christ were ready to kill everyone who did not comply with their teachings. Jesus was preparing the disciples by mellowing them and maturing them for real life and ministry.
Idealistic people are quick to condemn others. Inexperienced people are very strict and unforgiving with human weakness. Mature and mellow ministers are very different. Notice that Jesus did not condemn the adulterous lady, although the Pharisees did. (John 8: 3-11) Notice that Jesus turned the woman of Samaria into an evangelist even though she had had five husbands. (John 4:5-29).
Many servants of God are yet to become gentle, fully developed and ripened for ministry. It is time to complete your development and preparation for ministry.
Apostle Paul said he was striving to know God and to know the fellowship of His suffering. Why would this great apostle who wrote half of the New Testament still be striving to know God and the fellowship of His sufferings (Philippians 3:10-11)? Indeed, it takes time to even know and understand the God we are serving and following.