Brownie Batter

"Mom, how can you tell if someone's a Christian?" Ginny asked. "Because my friend Elle says she is, but she never prays before she eats, and I heard her tell Melanie a lie on the playground, and one time she asked if I wanted to come over on a Sunday morning, so I don't think she goes to church!" Ginny huffed out a breath. Mom put down her whisk. "You and I can't really tell what's in someone's heart, Ginny. Only God can. Praying and going to church are important in helping us grow as Christians, but they don't make anyone a Christian, and Christians still do wrong things sometimes. Does that make sense?" "Sort of…but we pray and go to church. Doesn't that show other people we're Christians?" Ginny asked. Mom started to answer, then stopped. "Let me see if I can explain it a different way. Take these brownies I'm making. We can add things into our lives like praying…" Mom cracked in an egg. "Or going to church…" She poured in vanilla. "Or telling the truth…" She added the flour with a poof. "But without Jesus, we're like this." Mom walked out the door and put the brownie batter on the porch. "Mom! You can't put the brownie batter outside. They'll never cook.""Exactly, and without Jesus--no matter what ingredients we're adding--we can't ever become brownies, because we'll never make it to the oven! We just stay as uncooked batter." Mom grabbed the batter from off the porch and put it back on the counter. "The good things we do can't get rid of the sin in our hearts. We need Jesus to save us from sin. That's the only way we can become brownies.""Oh," Ginny said, peeping over the counter. "So that's why God is the only one who can tell if we're Christians? Because He puts us in the oven?""Exactly! And though the love Jesus puts in our hearts helps us point others to Him, we can't judge whether people are Christians based on what they do or don't do. Only God knows each person's heart. And while praying and going to church are very important, they don't bake someone into a Christian." Mom laughed at her own pun and poured the brownie batter while Ginny rolled her eyes. -Naomi Zylstra