What a Saucepan Can Teach About Redemption - Part 2

Sin was not in God’s original plan. But his plan of redemption was prepared even before the problem had occurred.

Philosophy and Mission August 23, 2018

Jesus often used simple object lessons from everyday life to illustrate deep insights, and we can do that, too. Inspired by the incident with the burnt saucepan in the cooking lesson  (posted last week), I designed a spiritual interpretation for my students and me applying the story of redemption to this situation:

  • In the beginning …
    • God had a good plan for all mankind. He gave us his “recipe” for our lives to be happy and healthy forever.
    • He created us as free beings with a free will to choose whether to follow his plan or to do it our own way.
  • Our decision:
    • If we follow his recipe (the bible, the Ten Commandments, Golden Rule, health message…)., we will succeed and enjoy the meal with him in eternity. (see also Revelation 3,20)
    • If we don’t listen to his instructions and don’t care about his prophets who warn us, there are natural or logical consequences for ourselves and for others and we will fail in the end. (In the cooking lesson the saucepan burnt, the vegetables were missing as meal component for the whole group, the saucepan seemed to be ruined and had to be cleaned intensively).
      ➔ Punishment or scolding isn’t necessary and does not lead to insight in most cases.
    • Which way do you choose?
  • The failure:
    • Given appropriate detergents and enough time the student could have solved the burnt saucepan-problem on her own.
    • Because burnt saucepans aren’t scheduled in the cooking lesson, the required cleansing material wasn’t available in the kitchen first – I had to buy some to clean the saucepan and to be better prepared for another emergency that might occur in the future.
  • The solution:
    • But the sin problem nobody can solve alone. No sacrifice, no effort, no time or money would be sufficient.
    • We all need Jesus as redeemer to clean our hearts.
    • When the time was fulfilled he came to provide the detergent for free.
    • His blood was the best cleansing agent ever invented. It’s the only one that works for all messes, lasts forever and will never run out.
    • Jesus wants to do the cleaning for everyone. Will you allow him to do it?

Sin was not in God’s original plan. But his plan of redemption was prepared even before the problem had occurred.

Author

Marita Koch

After graduation from University started teaching in 2004 at one of the first Adventist schools in Southern Germany. Currently serves as a teacher at Salomo-School, an Adventist secondary school in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany. She admires God’s creativity and hopes to spend eternity with all her students.

    2 comments

  • | August 28, 2018 at 8:29 am

    Lovely analogy! I’m sure it’s one your students will never forget! I would add, Jesus is the best cook and we need to allow him to control the cooking process!

    • | August 30, 2018 at 3:12 pm

      Thank you for your comment! This is a very valuable addition.

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