Jesus and the buffet line ...

Sep. 7, 2006 - Jesus and the buffet line ...
Tia has a wonderful entry today about buffet line Christianity ... okay, it's really about more than that, but today I'm really drawn to that particular line(and if history repeats itself, tomorrow I'll be drawn to another line from her thoughts). I'm taking liberties in jumping off in my own direction ... check out her thoughts 'cause their worthy of your time!

Going to church can be a lot like going to Ryan's these days. You can go, over stuff yourself with, well, stuff(and who knows what that stuff really is because we weren't there for the preparation, those who did prepare it aren't going to let you in on their secrets and that in and of itself ought to make us wonder!), we can choose everything from salad, to meat only, to dessert, to fruit, to bread ... the choices are abundant. But as Tia pointed out, they are not all equal even in the midst of the mediocrity that one experiences at a buffet line(afterall, they are created to appeal to the masses). Because even in the midst of all the choices, unless you choose well, you don't come away satisfied. And not all choices are capable of providing us the ability live life in abundancy. It really seems to me that if you have to slather a sweetened, butter-like substance on your bread of life, then maybe you(I) should examine the bread you're consuming! I don't think that in the recounting of the last supper condiments were included!

I was asked over the weekend if I could, logically, say that a woman's right to choose should be legislated ... could I say that my choice is better than another choice. First I had to point out that I don't believe that it's MY choice, but God's command (actually, that was pointed out by another in this discussion). My answer was something close to this: I don't have any choice but to decide that God's word is the bottom line. Jesus is THE way, THE Messiah not one of the mulitple choice ways. The Bible is HIS word, not one of His words. I didn't say that - HE did. Who am I to try to water-down HIS word to fit my circumstance. And I can say that with such conviction because HE had to convict me of it! I walked the academic walk for a number of years, trying to make all of the pieces of all of the different religions/faiths/philosophies fit together. Finally, I just had to say, I don't know, I only know what God said in His Word and I can't explain it(by the way, isn't that what faith is, believing in something that you can't see or explain?). I tried to make a woman's right to choose okay ... and I was stubborn on this because of personal experiences and my background of abuse, but God convicted me(sometimes when you need to see something to believe it, He allows that and it's a hard lesson). Randy and I miscarried the year before AJ was born ... I laid for a day with my feet in the air, drove to the doctor's office and delivered a whole, intact amniotic sac which contained an 7 week old baby head, eyes, brain, arms, legs, fingers, toes ... everything you could see with the naked eye, the doctor pointed out to me and I could see, yet he couldn't live because he was removed from my body ... I didn't make that choice, but it was a lesson nonetheless ... and guess what, even at that moment, when it would have been this woman's right to choose, it was a baby ... and my mind was changed and my heart was transformed.

You see, my buffet line of choices was narrowing before my eyes. As we learn and we grow and we become more like Christ, I believe our choices narrow ... and partially, it's because our desires narrow. I spent A LONG time wanting my faith to fit into my life, rather than moulding my life around my faith ... when I stop( notice present tense here) trying to make Jesus one of my choices and let him be the choice, life just seems to be, well, there's a harmony ... unlike when I'm trying to orchestrate! It isn't all rosy and wonderful ... just a sense that He's got my best interest at heart and sees the big picture(as I was reminded last night).

Ryan's does not have your best interest at heart!

You know, we mommies didn't come up with the whole 'limited choices' trick ... first it was God! You can have Me(eternal life) or you can have Your Way(not eternal life). And it even goes a step further, when He knew the consequences were dire, there was no choice ... He just gave us John 14:6 ... "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." I hope that you aren't so hard headed that you needed limited choices or no choice at all ... I am just that hard headed!

If a choice doesn't match up with scripture, if it doesn't fit with God's character ... then it is no longer a choice, it's a sin. It really doesn't matter a hill of beans how I FEEL about it ... it's sin.

Okay ... I'm not proofing this because AJ is up and school was supposed to start in 15 minutes!