20070904

Just Choose the Bran Muffin

Lately in the US we've decided that we are fat; we'll this is probably true and we need to react to it by being...less fat. For the most part I think we are doing better, marketers are certainly capitalizing on this concept as we continue to see commercial after commercial after reality show of people losing weight and how they all have the easy answer to making it happen. We have drugs that will take away your hunger, we have classes, shakes, machines, you name it, we've made it the answer to a better/skinnier life, the whole time forgetting that if we eat less and run more, good things will happen, and instead of spending money, you may even save some.

After this this next form of a "health kick" came in, putting all the vitamins and supplements we need in the food we already like to eat, I mean come on, who needs vegetables anyway? I saw a commercial tonight advertising the amount of fiber that has now been added to yogurt in order to make you regular again. Naturally we look at anything with fruit in it has high in fiber but if you read the fine print on any yogurt cup you will notice that it says "not a good source of fiber". Which means that the fiber had to be added to the yogurt in order for it to get into your body.

Knowing all this information we have to ask the question, why not just choose the Bran Muffin? We all know that bran muffin's are high in fiber and can really help you out when needed, however we choose to use cheap imitations of the things we truly need. Is it to make it more convenient? Easier? Tastier?

It seems that our world is choosing to adopt this principle that we can get anything we need in any form that we want, even if it doesn't quite do exactly what we need it to do. We don't need diet and exercises, just pills that do it all for us, we don't need parents, just highly trained day care providers, we don't need relationships, just an Internet connection and a myspace, and we don't need a bran muffin, we only need yogurt that has a good amount of fiber that has been pulled out of other forms and thrown into a $2 cup of fake fruit.

Why do we choose the journey's that are not authentic? The journey's that make everything look and seem great and possibly do some good, but never actually amount to the truth of the original. People search, and when searching will choose a wrong path on their journey at times, I've done it, you've done it, and the great thing is; that is exactly what the journey is supposed to look like.

I want to be a person that loves Jesus and not just with part of me, with all of me. I want all that I do to truly be something that shows that Jesus is transforming me into his likeness and that this transformation will never end, I will always be growing always morphing, always learning.

We live in a world of substitutes, why have they found their way into the church? I work in a church and the easiest thing to do is to become a bit of a cynic when it comes to the way we go about things. In many communities where Jesus Lovers gather we have settled for an un-authentic display of what look like God, talks like God, even acts like God at times, but really isn't God. I heard a speaker say one time that there may be no greater evidence for the existence of God than the gift of community. We love to bounce back and fourth between our events when we have a world that hurts, a world that is searching and world that is desperate for something real for once, a world that needs a bran muffin instead of a quick fix that leaves you lonely and disappointed in the end.

I want to end this post with a tough question, when others come in contact with you, are you the bran muffin or are you the opposite?

2 comments:

  1. This is so true...At the Well this week Brad said it this way. "Where are you choosing convience over obedience?"

    ReplyDelete
  2. excellent post dude!!!

    Makes you think about stuff.

    keep up the good writing (Alicha was really impressed too!).

    ReplyDelete