Black Pepper Pound Cake

Joshua7:11 Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. 12 Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. 13 Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the Lord, God of Israel, “There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.”


One of the richest joys of my youth was my moms Carolina poundcake. We used to eat it hot, straight from the oven when the crust was crispy and the inside fluffy and moist. It really does make my mouth water and remind me of one day when my mom, my brother and I consumed an entire poundcake in one sitting as we watched the thriller, " Hush , Hush , Sweet Charlotte".

These cakes were so longed for at my house that one day my brother decided he was going to whip one up while mom was outside talking with our neighbors. Chris is a smart guy so at age 9 he systematically followed the instructions as he preheated the oven and whipped the ingredients together in a mixing bowl. His execution was on point, but there was one problem. Christ thought that "2 tsp b.p." stood for 2 teaspoons of black pepper, not baking powder. There is a significant difference in the two and it was amazing how those two little teaspoons changed both the taste and the composition of the cake. Lets just say it not only tasted bad, it tasted really bad and the texture of the cake was not up to snuff either. It did not take us but one bite each to understand something was wrong. 2 little teaspoons ruined an entire cake made up of about two pounds of batter.

The passage of scripture above in Joshua is the infamous sin in the camp scene, where the whole congregation of Jews suffered because one man disobeyed God. This sinner, Achan took household idols as spoil as they defeated Jericho, and God had forbidden that very thing. The result was that when the Israelites went to fight at Ai, God was fighting against them, not for them. This one man out of hundreds of thousands had brought sin into the camp and the result was that all suffered. God charged Joshua to purge this sin, so Achan was identified as the perpetrator and stoned to death. The sin was eliminated and fellowship with God was restored. Since God was once again with the Israelites, they were then able to conquer all they fought as they entered the promise land.

God has a serious hate for sin as it strikes against Him first and hardest. I don't think we hate it near enough as we seem to try and manage our sin habits keeping them at a convenient arms length until we need them. Jesus died so they would be crucified, and oh by the way sin is way to strong for any of us to manage.

The effects of sin, even a little bit in our lives, will damper our communion with God and it effects everyone around us, not just ourselves. Everyone that is in your life will suffer as a result of harboring even tiny little innocent doses of sin. Our pride will destroy us and our friendships, so will gossip, alcohol, drugs, tobacco and over indulging. Our vanity will drive others from us and drive our kids to be self serving narcissists. Our greed will keep us away from our families and disrupt the dynamics God designed. Our lust will drive a wedge between our marriages and snatch pure Love from our kids lives and fuel wrong desires that hold us captive. The list could go on for days......

The clear point is this: just as 2 tsp of black pepper ruined a delightful pound cake, our "small" sins will ruin us and our families, friends and co-workers if they are not crucified at the Cross. All sin strikes against the Father, pours more wrath on Jesus hanging on the Cross and dampens the flame of the Spirit burning in us. If the Trinity is at work vibrantly in our souls our lives will bring a warm healing to those in our lives that is as delicious as my mom's poundcake. If sin gets its hold then the world gets a dose of a nasty, malformed black pepper pound cake.

Even though my analogy is light hearted, lets not kid ourselves. Sin is a heavy, dark thing that leaves us to deflated, lost and miserable. Sin is a powerful evil that camoflauges itself as attractive desires. Examine your selves and purge yours at the feet of the Cross or it will wreak havoc in your life and those you love.