Half-Baked
J. Reid Howat. Hosea 7:8 Ephraim, he has mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.… A strange text, but there are so many strange people in the world that odd words are sometimes needed to reach them. All can understand about a cake. One that was only half-baked you would say was a deceit. There are people like such a cake. They look beautiful and good when in church, but when you come to try them, they are anything but pleasant. They are cakes not turned. Jesus was once speaking of this kind of thing, and took cups and saucers for His text. He said, "Do not wash the outside only, and make believe about the inside. Do the same with your characters. If you pretend to be good, then be good, inside and out, in your heart and thoughts as well as in your appearance." That is what this cake is meant to teach. Be thorough; do not try to appear what you are not. The best way to seem good is by being good. What is the good of seeming good if your thoughts are bad? God can see when you are only aa a cake not turned. No one ever yet lost by obeying God. Be thorough, honest, and God-fearing in and out; do not have a religion like a weathercock that shifts with the wind, or one that can be broken with an if or a but. God sees you altogether. A great sculptor in Greece, long ago, made a statue that was to be set on a high column, yet he was as particular about the hair on the top of the statue's head as about all the rest. "Why take so much pains about that?" some one said. "Nobody will ever see it." "No," replied the sculptor, "but God will see it." Then be true in heart if you would be true in life. (J. Reid Howat.) Parallel Verses KJV: Ephraim, he hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned. WEB: Ephraim, he mixes himself among the nations. Ephraim is a pancake not turned over.