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Eating
Plastic
"Have s'more
chocolate ice cream, Daddy," Gabriel said as he handed me a plastic
replica of a Baskin Robbins double-dutch chocolate fudge sugar cone.
We had been playing with his food toys. He has pizza, sandwich
fixings, hot dogs, hamburgers, cakes, peas, French fries, fried
chicken, milk eggs, bread, and even peanut butter and jelly. Gabe
can play with that stuff long after Sandra and I have lost interest.
So, while he's playing, I am thinking.
I am thinking about
how Gabe represents a lot of Christians I know. He loves to pretend.
he loves to act like he is eating. It is no wonder. The food looks
real. It must be that same stuff they put under the glass cases at
Bruno's. It looks so good that if you put a plate of it on top of
your head, your tongue would beat your brains out trying to get to
it! Still, it is not real. It is just plastic. There is no
nutritional value, no substance,... just aesthetics.
I am convinced that
there is an awful lot of us in the church that are just like Gabe.
We like being a pretend Christian. We like to use our imagination.
We can get together and "play" for a spell on Sundays or Wednesdays.
We can even recount our adventures at the hair stylists, over cards,
or at the local hang out. When it is all said and done, all we have
accomplished is EATING PLASTIC. Oh, it is great to read about real
Christians doing real ministry. It is even better to remember when
we used to do real ministry. Yep, we are just eating plastic.
When was the last
time you invited someone to church? When was the last time you
"gave" till it hurt? When was the last time you offered someone a
hand up? When was the last time you loved someone in spite of
themselves? When was the last time you got on your knees to pray for
someone else? When was the last time you repented? When was the last
time you fasted? When was the last time you used your spiritual
gifts? When was the last time you took up your cross to follow
Jesus?
My guess is that by
now you are feeling about as guilty as I am. Sometimes it takes
children to show us what we are doing. I praise God for using my son
to show me that it is time I stop eating plastic and do some real
ministry. "Jesus said, 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent me
and to accomplish His work." (jn 4:34).
My prayer for us is
that we stop eating plastic and get on with doing real ministry with
real folks with real problems. Maybe then, someone will see the real
church and the real love of Jesus.
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