Parked Cars, Big Macs, and XBox 360's
I should be in bed right now because tomorrow is going to come extremely early for me, but I couldn’t shake this thought enough to go to sleep. I LOVE a nice juicy cheeseburger. It’s not too often that I get to indulge myself in one because my baseball coach doesn’t like us eating fast food. We’re supposed to be “well-oiled and finely-tuned” machines out on the diamond and a double quarter-pounder with cheese and super size-me fries don’t quite go with that description of fitness. But I was in McDonalds the other day and it hit me: the old saying “You are what you eat.” That has got to be the oldest and most ignorant saying I have ever heard in my life. It was one of those sayings that the class loser in kindergarten would bust out because he couldn’t think of anything to come back with whenever he was being cracked on. It is almost as bad as “I know you are but what am I.” I mean hello, preschool called and wanted its joke back (ok that was an old one too).
But it hit me as I was eating that Big Mac, that me sitting in McDonalds no more makes me a Big Mac than sitting in a garage makes me a car, or walking through Best Buy makes me an Xbox 360. So why do people think that going to church makes them a Christian? I’ve done all the Bible asked: I’ve taken communion, I’ve been confirmed, I’ve prayed on Christmas Eve with my candle lit, I’ve been baptized, I’ve put my hands up in worship, I’ve led a Bible Study, I’ve attended membership classes. What more do I need to do to be a Christian? I’m gonna answer that question the best and nicest way I know how . . . NOTHING! STOP DOING THINGS BECAUSE YOU’RE DOING YOURSELF TO DEATH!!!
There was this guy in the Bible named Nicodemas. Now for the sake of typing space and nicknames, we’re gonna call him Nic. Ole Nic was a very RELIGIOUS (religious being the key word here) man and a very smart man at that. He was a teacher of the Law (and by the law I mean the covenant made with Moses by God—The Ten Commandments and Levitical Law, that kind of stuff) He was your typical Baptist (Presbyterian, Wesleyan, Methodist, etc.) preacher who “had it all together because he was “doing” God’s work. Jesus informed ole Nic that he had it all wrong. It’s not about doing things for Him it’s about getting to know Him and having a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself termed it being “Born Again.” A new creation must be born; the old self that used to exist and act is gone and the new self has come through Jesus Christ!
Yeah sure that’s all peaches and cream but how do we go about having a relationship with someone we can’t even see. Well, if I were to write a book about myself and give it to you to read you would probably learn a lot about me in that book, right? God did the same thing: It’s called the Bible. Check it out! It tells you all you need to know about God.
Ok, Ok, so knowing about God no more makes Him your true love than me researching Tiger Woods makes him my best bud. I’ll give you that one. That’s why Jesus asks us to EXPERIENCE him. Just like when I hang out with my girlfriend (who is the most amazing, Godly, and beautiful girl I have ever met), I experience things with her, experience her, and get to know inside and out. That’s what prayer is! I’ll write a segment on prayer in more detail at a later date but essentially what prayer is, is a conversation with God. Talk to Him just like he’s your best pal sitting down and chilling on a Friday night with you, playing Halo or something like that. Tell Him what you like, laugh, cut-up with Him, confide in Him, tell Him your concerns, trust in Him, LISTEN to Him. Listen carefully, HE DESIRES NOTHING MORE THAN TO HAVE AN INTIMATE CONNECTION WITH YOU. More intimate than you can find in relationships with friends, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, parents, your dog, your greasy, greasy grandma, anyone! And when you truly experience God you will never want to go back to your old ways! That’s what being Born again is!
It’s not about being religious. I’m not religious. But I love Jesus Christ with all my heart and I seek to please Him in EVERYTHING I do. But most of all I seek to learn how to love Him as he loved us. It’s all about having a RELATIONSHIP with the very God that died for you so that you can one day live with Him in eternity!
But it hit me as I was eating that Big Mac, that me sitting in McDonalds no more makes me a Big Mac than sitting in a garage makes me a car, or walking through Best Buy makes me an Xbox 360. So why do people think that going to church makes them a Christian? I’ve done all the Bible asked: I’ve taken communion, I’ve been confirmed, I’ve prayed on Christmas Eve with my candle lit, I’ve been baptized, I’ve put my hands up in worship, I’ve led a Bible Study, I’ve attended membership classes. What more do I need to do to be a Christian? I’m gonna answer that question the best and nicest way I know how . . . NOTHING! STOP DOING THINGS BECAUSE YOU’RE DOING YOURSELF TO DEATH!!!
There was this guy in the Bible named Nicodemas. Now for the sake of typing space and nicknames, we’re gonna call him Nic. Ole Nic was a very RELIGIOUS (religious being the key word here) man and a very smart man at that. He was a teacher of the Law (and by the law I mean the covenant made with Moses by God—The Ten Commandments and Levitical Law, that kind of stuff) He was your typical Baptist (Presbyterian, Wesleyan, Methodist, etc.) preacher who “had it all together because he was “doing” God’s work. Jesus informed ole Nic that he had it all wrong. It’s not about doing things for Him it’s about getting to know Him and having a PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself termed it being “Born Again.” A new creation must be born; the old self that used to exist and act is gone and the new self has come through Jesus Christ!
Yeah sure that’s all peaches and cream but how do we go about having a relationship with someone we can’t even see. Well, if I were to write a book about myself and give it to you to read you would probably learn a lot about me in that book, right? God did the same thing: It’s called the Bible. Check it out! It tells you all you need to know about God.
Ok, Ok, so knowing about God no more makes Him your true love than me researching Tiger Woods makes him my best bud. I’ll give you that one. That’s why Jesus asks us to EXPERIENCE him. Just like when I hang out with my girlfriend (who is the most amazing, Godly, and beautiful girl I have ever met), I experience things with her, experience her, and get to know inside and out. That’s what prayer is! I’ll write a segment on prayer in more detail at a later date but essentially what prayer is, is a conversation with God. Talk to Him just like he’s your best pal sitting down and chilling on a Friday night with you, playing Halo or something like that. Tell Him what you like, laugh, cut-up with Him, confide in Him, tell Him your concerns, trust in Him, LISTEN to Him. Listen carefully, HE DESIRES NOTHING MORE THAN TO HAVE AN INTIMATE CONNECTION WITH YOU. More intimate than you can find in relationships with friends, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, parents, your dog, your greasy, greasy grandma, anyone! And when you truly experience God you will never want to go back to your old ways! That’s what being Born again is!
It’s not about being religious. I’m not religious. But I love Jesus Christ with all my heart and I seek to please Him in EVERYTHING I do. But most of all I seek to learn how to love Him as he loved us. It’s all about having a RELATIONSHIP with the very God that died for you so that you can one day live with Him in eternity!
posted by Zealot at 10:44 PM
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