I confess I'm in combat mode, all-out war. It's a "good verses evil" fight to the death. I've won some victories, but I've also been bludgeoned more times than I care to admit. The blood flows, and it's filled with insulin. Yes, the battle is against sugar, against empty carbs, against my own, highly developed appetite....oh the humanity!
With that in mind, I will say it plainly: Drive-Thru windows are a curse! No good thing is delivered through those little, Plexiglas squares of gluttony. Except for my friends Andrew, Kelsey, Tyler, and Stephanie, the attendants in those Drive-Thru's are agents of evil. You can see it in their faces. They care not that one may be injecting death into one's body through an open mouth. NO; McDonalds be cursed! Burger King be banned from the search for Whopper Virgins! Sonic, well, no need to curse that which is already spoiled. All that remains of good in this world is found in pizza, but that too has been compromised with fat-filled cheese in the crust. Oh, the despair! I pray that President Obama, with the same stroke of a pen that he used to restore abortion-funding around the world, remove all fast food Drive-Thru windows from American shores. (See the use of sarcasm, please!)
Of course, one generally finds a way to blame another. I mean, come on, it can't be my fault. My parents bought Ice Cream every week in celebration of surviving another Sunday. My football coach told me to drink a large chocolate malt every single day in order to get big and strong. My wrestling coach taught us to binge and purge. None of it is my fault. I mean, my wife was a great cook from the start. And, those rascally church members caused me to keep the Ice Cream tradition alive on Sundays. But mostly, it's God's fault. He gave me taste buds and a massive set of sweet teeth! (Nothing like crying in your splenda covered bran flakes, huh!)
But what sickens me most is how the drive thru mentality has penetrated our intake of spiritual food. I'm talking about the multitudes of believers who rely on a quick window of fast-food every Sunday to get their weekly nourishment. It's good, meaty food, but it only lasts for a short period. The rest of the week, they fill themselves with the empty spiritual carbs being injected into their brains. You know, television, radio, the Internet, the billboards, and all the other means of filling the mind. They feel full, like their lives are really on the right track. But, with that type of diet, we have no more spiritual strength than the poor obese guy on "Biggest Loser." There is no stamina, no endurance, no breath. Oh, but on Sunday, the good food goes in, making the eater think that one moment in the word will make up for all the dead spiritual carbs ingested throughout the week. Wrong!
Jesus tells us in Matthew 10:22 and Matthew 24:15, that "those who endure until the end will be saved." He's talking about an atmosphere of persecution, one in which the believer will have to survive. It's a prophecy of now. Endurance means work! It includes some pain. It hurts. But you hold on because you have strength. You have strength because you've been well-fed. You are only well-fed by ingesting and absorbing the Bread of Life...the Word of God. Enough with the Drive-Thru mentality! I encourage you, dear friend, pick up a Bible. Inject it into your heart in large portions, and over long periods. Chew it. Question it. Slam dunk it into your spirit. Memorize it. Be mesmerized by it. Just DO IT! That no-good spiritual fat will be replaced by Godly muscle...and you will endure until the end. (I like the saved part, don't you?)
By-Passing Drive-Thru's,
Pastor Jim
