John 6:51 – I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (NIV)

Water, salt, sugar, oil, flour, and yeast. It's bread! Well, it could be!

Most Saturdays, you will find my wife making buns for our church lunch on Sunday. She has done this for years now. They are delicious.

But what goes into them? People have asked for her recipe, but she says she doesn't have one, that it is whatever she throws in. But I've watched. She uses pretty much the same thing and the same amount every time. So let me share how I see them being made.

Ingredients:

About a 1/4 bowl of water: holds it together and gives it moisture.
Pinch of salt: gotta have salt; be kinda flat without it.
Two handfuls of sugar: important ingredient; makes it taste better.
Two large squirts of oil: keeps the stuff from sticking to the pan.
One handful of yeast: makes it light and fluffy.
Twice as much flour as water: gives it bulk.

But just having the ingredients isn't enough. It has to be put together and then worked.

Process:

Here's what I see happening to make it into something good. Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, continually adding flour until it can't be stirred. Add a bit more flour, flipping it around in the bowl until mixed. Cover with a towel and let it rise until it is falling out of the bowl. Punch it with your fists until it fits down in the bowl. Cover it with the towel again until it rises and starts falling out of the bowl again. Dump some more flour on the counter. Throw the dough around in the flour on the counter for a bit, then break off little pieces. Take a piece in one hand, and using the fingers of the other hand, try to pull the outside and stuff it into its middle. When you have a nice round ball, put it on a cookie sheet. Repeat till all the pieces are round balls on the cookie sheet. Cover them with the towel again until they rise and are ready to fall off the cookie sheet. Put them in the oven till brown.

Results:

Share the buns! Why else make so many?

For Christians, it is the same thing. We have the ingredients, but we still have to put them together and work them into something useful.

Ingredients:

Heart for God: open and willing.
Salvation: knowing Jesus, not just about Him.
Bible: it's the recipe book.
Prayer: helps us understand the recipe.
People to share with.

Process:

Here is what I see happening to make us into something good. Mix the salvation, prayer, and Bible verses together. Read the Bible and pray a lot, then read some more. Take the verses to heart. You might feel like you're getting rolled around, punched, flattened out, and cut to bits. It's called being worked! Then rise up to the challenge; pray for divine appointments.

Results:

Share the faith!

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You so much for sending us Jesus, the Bread of Life. We know that just knowing about Him is not enough and that a personal relationship with Him becomes more real when we share Him with others. Help us to put our faith in Him into active service. Help us share this bread with the world. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.

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About the author:

Alec Niemi <aniemi@shaw.ca>
Harrison Mills, British Columbia, Canada
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