Dear Family and
Friends,
Greetings once again! It is always so great to see the Weekend on the horizon.
I so look forward to Sunday and the chance to gather again for worship. I hope
to see you in just a couple of days.
This
week I continue my series in Colossians.
The Absolute, Comprehensive, Entirely Complete... Life
The Jesus Perspective!
Colossians 1:24-29
Last
Sunday we looked at our Spiritual Makeover through the Spiritual makeover grid
in Colossians 1:21-23.
Next Saturday, the 23rd is the All-church picnic at Kathy Overbeeks. We are
having a Taco Bar this year, as well as all sorts of fun activities. We will be
at her home near the church on the river. I hope you are making plans to join
us.
How
about a few encouraging words...
Vending Machines
in support of the Bible!
I
marvel everyday at work as I watch people flock to the vending machines at break
time. With candy bars, chips, cookies, crackers, water, pop, juice or coffee
the choices are a plenty. Everyone puts their money in, makes their selection
and presto there it is. Instant gratification for those early-morning hunger
pains, instant gratification for only twice the price.
Forget the oil companies, if any
one practices price gouging it is those crazy vending machines. Have you ever
priced something in a vending machine? I suppose they rival the convenient
store checkout line. Price gouging is the norm their too, where you pay for the
item twice; once for the actual item and once for the convenience, hence a
convenience store.
I suppose I can understand this
on some levels. You buy a bottle of pop (as far as water we won’t go there,
paying for water is extortion) you pay for the pop then you pay a second time
for the convenience of having it cold. Still it is hard for me to reason how
you can enter a store and purchase a 2 liter on sale for 88 cents while at the
same time buying a 20 ounce bottle costs you $1.25 or more. I suppose it is
more convenient to drink out of a small bottle than a big one.
The truth is convenience stores
like vending machines charge more for items than my practical side often wants
to pay. Some of those individual items in vending machines cost 2 or 3 times
more than what they would cost if you bought a package of them at the store. I
know it’s really not price gouging but it sure can feel that way sometimes,
taking advantage of your on the spot hunger.
There are though a couple of
other lessons that I have noted about vending machines, and it is amazing how
supportive they are towards Biblical teachings.
Vending Machines and Justice
Psalm
89:14 GWT
Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne.
Mercy and truth stand in front of you.
One of the interesting things to
watch around the vending machine is what transpires when someone doesn’t get the
correct change back or even worse when the item they purchased doesn’t come
down. You put in your money, you push the button, but no product comes out.
Some people actually try again, they like being gouged twice in the same day.
At the vending machines at work
they have slips of paper so you can write down your name and the amount of money
that you were shortchanged. Then when they service the machines they will leave
you the correct amount of money. It is interesting though, how no one ever
says, “That’s okay, I lost a buck no big deal.” Usually you hear them sing the
opposite tune and spiced with words that no one needs in their vocabulary. The
vending machine get’s an earful, even though it doesn’t have any ears.
Sometimes it get’s attacked, aka abused, verbally and yes even physically, all
in attempt to jar lose what it was supposed to give up willing; all because
someone’s sense of justice was rattled. Yes vending machines encourage us to
stand in support of justice. “I was due 50 cents back and only got a quarter; I
deserve justice, I deserve my quarter.”
Maybe that can help us
understand why Jesus was verbally and physically abused, aka crucified, on the
cross; that sense of justice we have, it came from our creator; it came from
God. He demands justice as well. He created us all perfect and we sinned and
He demanded justice. We have all these little slips of paper, literally
billions even zillions of them, all IOU(s) to the Father and Christ paid them
all at the cross. An amazing act, an incredible love, justice satisfied!
Vending Machines and Absolute
Truth
Psalm
119:60 NKJV
The entirety of Your word is truth,
And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.
GWT -
There is nothing but truth in your word,
and all of your
righteous regulations endure forever.
Message
- Your words all add up to the sum total: Truth.
Your righteous
decisions are eternal.
As I watch those vending machine
encounters though, I am most struck by how the vending machines speak out in
defense of one of the greatest truths of the Bible that is under attack today.
We are constantly told today that we shouldn’t be so narrow-minded,
but that we should be more open-minded. We are told that there is
no right or wrong anymore and that we shouldn’t attempt to impose our beliefs on
everyone else. In short there is no such thing as absolute truth; all truth is
relative.
Try that with a vending machine
and it just doesn’t work. Vending machines are quite narrow-minded, as is most
everything in the retail world. If the machine says that candy is 1 dollar than
you better put in a dollar. The world of warm and fuzzy relativism might like
us to think that we can all decide what that candy bar is worth to us and that
we can all make up our own price, but the machine says otherwise. Unless you
put in enough money to cover the absolute correct amount you won’t get the
goodies. The machine demands an exact payment; it demands a specific price that
is the same for all. How narrow minded is that?
It doesn’t matter how hungry you
are, how poor you may be, how hard you might have worked, what your weight or
even cholesterol is, your political views, the time of the day or the day of the
week; the price is the same for all and at all times. It is fixed, it is exact,
it is absolute and it is required!
It is amazing to me, how one can
reason that when it comes to eternity, to the afterlife, to heaven, that we can
determine our own set of truth; we can decide what is good enough and not good
enough; we can decide who we will personally put our faith in. Kind of like a
vending machine of faith, all sorts of god’s and religious persuasions for all
sorts of people. Put your faith in, choose what YOU want and out pops
eternity. There is no absolute correct choice in the matter, it’s up to you.
Yet when it comes to that icy cold Mountain Dew or that Arizona Tea, those same
people pay the fixed price every time; they give the vending machine companies
exactly what they require.
They may complain about the
rising prices, but they pay it. They may complain about the injustice when
their shortchanged or the machine malfunctions, yet still they continue to use
it. They might not even like the choices that the vending machine offers, but
still they accept them.
Why not accept the Cross? Why
not put their faith in the risen Christ? Why not trust the Father’s demands?
He’s no more narrow-minded then the vending machine companies; and being
narrow-minded is it really that bad?
The Bible says..
Matthew
7:13-14 NCV
“Enter through the narrow gate.
The gate is wide and the road is wide that leads to hell, and many people enter
through that gate. 14But the gate is small and the road is narrow
that leads to true life. Only a few people find that road.
I think being narrow-minded
maybe has its merits, the Bible says it leads to eternity. Why not trust the
reality of Christ’s work on the cross (that’s the narrow road.) Why not trust
the Father and His plan. He’s more refreshing then a Coke, much more satisfying
then a Snicker, and when it comes to price gouging its not that He takes
advantage of us, it is believe-it-or-not, that He let’s us take advantage of
Him, aka grace. Call it grace gouging, call it crazy, call it underserved, and
yes call it absolute; absolute truth. The bottom line is that once you put your
faith into God’s Eternal vending machine, you’ll never hunger and thirst again.
John 14:6
NIV
Jesus answered, “I
am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to
the Father except through me.
In other words…
“I am the
[only] way and the [only] truth and the [only] life.
Have a grace-full week
Pastor Bill
