Having your cake and eating it, too!

If you’re anything like me you can sometimes describe yourself as someone who wants to ‘have their cake and eat it too’. 

In C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape letters there is an interesting point made by the demon Screwtape about this saying in Letter 30 

“The creatures are always accusing one another of wanting to eat the cake and have it; but, thanks to our labours, they more often find themselves in the position of paying for the cake and not eating it.”

The book, told from the perspective of a demon training his fellow demon on how best to disrupt humanity, makes a very thought provoking point in this case. Are we as Christians leaning into, appreciating, and enjoying all the God has given us already? Or are we striving to do what God calls us to to such an extent that we forget to stop and enjoy him? Are we muzzling ourselves as we tread out the grain?

This line got me thinking of the richness of God’s mercy and provision. It is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance, and I have found it true that God is extremely rich in kindness. 

Sometimes I fall into cycles of thinking that God may only be willing to pour out some love, grace, and mercy on me and those around me. ‘Certainly he must be cautious not to give us too much so as not to spoil us’, I think to myself. When thinking this way I also almost always factor in my behavior with how much kindness I expect from God, surely I have a part to play in this equation! I hope you can already sense the error in my way of thinking, and maybe even relate to it. 

As I think about this thought cycle, I must confess it does not seem very congruent with God as we see him in the Bible. God is radically, overwhelmingly, shockingly generous with his goodness to those who call on him. God is consistently merciful towards people before they get themselves together. As we look through scriptures there are many cases where it can be said that God’s radical mercy and kindness is the first thing to happen in the chain of events that leads to their lives being changed. 

Back to the idea of ‘paying for the cake and not eating it’. In my life, this often looks like striving, straining, and relying on my own strength to do things for God that I think he would like instead of doing things with God, empowered by the holy spirit. 

I’ve heard it said that without our involvement, God won’t move, and without God’s involvement, we can’t move. I’m not entirely sure if that is heretical or not, so test it in your heart, but isn’t it certainly something to marvel at? Why does God allow us to join him in this? 

I guess he must really love us! 

I thought a lot about wanting to have my cake and eat it too, and what came to my mind was the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. The people were hungry, the disciples couldn't imagine a plan besides having the people go away to buy their own food, and Jesus tells them ‘you feed them’.

Forgot about having cake and eating it too, the disciples need a truckload of bread and fast, I imagine in a frustrated rush they find a little boy with five loaves and two fish and show Jesus that this was the best they could come up with. And what does Jesus do? He exceeds their expectations. 

The people were all sat down, everyone was fed, and at the end of the story there are 12 baskets of leftovers. Talk about having your cake and eating it too! 

As I apply these thoughts to our ministry at The LOT Project I am greatly encouraged. I believe that Jesus is not interested in sort of helping people or halfway changing circumstances. He desires, and is able to deliver on the whole thing. He can give us what we need and there still will be enough for leftovers afterward. 

I’m excited to think about what this could mean for the people we serve if they would take Jesus up on his offer for life and life abundantly. What if Jesus could get people off the streets and radically change their outlook on life and radically change their job opportunities and bless them with a community of friends, and….. The list goes on. 

I enjoy speculating about God’s goodness because I tend to underestimate him. 

I’m committing to enjoying the abundance God has placed all around me. I’m committed to increasing my expectations of God’s goodness, not due to anything I can control, but due to his richness of love and mercy. I’m committed to believing that God can not only change the circumstances of our poor brothers and sisters, but also change their hearts, their minds, and their outlook. 

I’m going to be having my cake and eating it too in the days ahead, I hope you’ll join me.