Watch Out Fat Man at the Buffet!

I can be a dangerous man at a buffet. I love to eat. Really, I can't help it. There's something about a buffet that's just so rewarding. All the food is warm and ready to go, just waiting for me to scoop something  up and put it on my plate. You don't have to wait for server to come to your table and take your order. You don't have to wait for the cook to make and prepare your food. You just go, get you a plate and then load up. The buffets that I particularly like are the ones that have like a wide variety of cuisines on them. You know the ones that got like Chinese, Mexican, Italian and then you know your generic American standards. Sometimes I wonder what my face looks like when I walk into a restaurant and see a really nice buffet. I probably look like a kid in a candy store, or somebody who just found like $1 trillion. Oh, and trust me, I waste no real estate on my buffet plate. In fact I'm kind of like the New York City of buffet plates, you know instead of like building out you know I build up, like there's like skyscrapers of food on my plate. When it comes to chowing down I am a lean, mean eating machine. You ever see those films where like the football players are having to high knee through obstacle courses and stuff, that's how I eat at a buffet. I'm all like, "pop, pop, pop, go, go, go, eat, eat, eat!" 

But there's a problem with this...

I get that much food and eat that fast, my stomach can't communicate to my brain fast enough. By the time the message from my stomach gets to my brain saying, "We're all full down here!", it's too late and I'm already overloaded. 

So why do I do it? Because it tastes so good, and I get so caught up in the moment that I don't realize what I'm doing until it's too late. That's the thing though isn't it? In this culture of ours we're always trying to get as much as we possibly can without much thought of the consequences. Sometimes I wonder about things like, "Why does God make food taste so good?" Why does he give men the talents to create wonderful beautiful things that we want to collect? Why did God create a multitude of majestic landscapes that we fight so dearly over? As a man, I wonder sometimes why he had to make women so beautiful? 

The answer, because God loves us.

Just like with my own children I work hard to give them the best I possibly can. We are all children of God, and because we are his children he loves us. He created us because he loves. He wanted to share existence with someone. God did not create us just so that we could be a gaggle of slaves to beckon at his every whim. God loves, and he loves perfectly, and when you love you want to share what you have. Just like it's important that I teach my children how to be responsible, it's important so God teaches us to be responsible. In the Old Testament God chose Abraham and started with a family, then a tribe, built up a nation and then sent prophets to teach us how to act in this world. God never gave up on us. He kept sending people to teach us. After the world had castaway and killed so many prophets, God finally decided to send his only son Jesus to teach us in person. After Jesus had finished his ministry by being crucified, God still didn't give up on us. God sent down his Holy Spirit, which is with us always, to help guide and give us the gifts we need to make it through each day. 

With all the wonderful gifts in this world though we need to be careful to not become idolatrous. It's important to keep in mind that God is to be our focal point. Some of us are idolaters and we don't even realize it. Some of us collect and worship money. Now keep in mind, there's a difference between saving for retirement and storing up as much wealth as possible because you love money that much. For some people the idol they worship is their car. They will spend hours and hours washing, waxing and detailing their idol. As a musician for a long time I worshiped guitars. I built up a collection not because I needed them, but because I wanted them and I was fixated on them. God has no problem with you owning nice things as long as you're nice things don't become your God. Sometimes when I question if any of my prized possessions are becoming idols. I will try and put them away for a month or even a few months on end. If I can do so and it doesn't bother me then usually I'm OK. However, if I try to not partake in something and I feel deep craving to the point that I can't abstain, that's usually a signal that somethings wrong. 

God wants to make a covenant with you. He wants to be your God. He wants you to love him instead of all other gods and idols. In return he is willing to share everything that he has with you. Now sure, God created everything on this planet and you get to partake in everything that God has created or has come out of God's creation each day, but know this, what is on this earth is nothing in comparison to what you'll find in heaven for eternity if you choose to except Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. All the beauty on this earth is merely a vague preview for what heaven has in store. 

The cool part, God gave you free will. You get to choose. Pause, ponder and choose wisely. Eternity is a very long time. How do you wish to spend it? Because if you're not going to Heaven there's really only one other place to go, Hell. 

So big picture what does this mean?

Quite simply this means you should dedicate your life to God, and in doing so you will be dedicating your life to love. God wants you to love him. God wants to hang out with you, he wants to teach you. If you follow the teachings of God that are in the Bible not only will he learn how to navigate this world, have peace, serenity and love, you also be on a journey that takes you directly to heaven. In following God's will you will love others. You are required to love everyone you meet. This isn't always an easy thing to do, let's face it, some people are hard to love. But even those people who are really hard to love, yeah, God wants you to love them too. If you follow the will of God does that mean you have to sell everything, you own, have anything, and live like a hermit? 

No, but God does want us to take care of each other. Just like I compassionately struggle with all of my children each and every week and try to teach them how to love and help each other. Brotherly love, hat's how God wants us to treat each other. Because if we make it our life's mission to put love and happiness in this world that's what will find, love and happiness. If you choose to make your life's mission merely to collect stuff that's all you'll find, and so you will be cold and alone. The people who will surround you will only be there for the things that you have. When disaster strikes they will leave you without a second thought. Convexly if you choose God he will always be there for you, in fact he's waiting for you right now. At no point ever in your life will you turn to God and he will deny you. But don't wait until you're standing at the pearly gates to develop a relationship with God because he will look at you then and say "I don't know you."

If you choose to be a Christian will you be perfect? No, you're going to make mistakes, You're gonna flat out sin. That's OK because God loves you. He knows you're broken. He knows your flawed. He's patient because he loves you. All that God asks is that when you do sin, come to him with a contrite heart, confess your sins and he will forgive you. Stick with God and he will help you conquer all of your sinful habits. 

You can live a life on this planet where you go to the buffet and stuff your life with all it has to offer and with no regard for anyone else around you. Sure you'll gain some momentary pleasure, but you'll also become fat and bloated and then you will die. Follow God's way, live a life of loving him and all that you will meet and you will know peace and serenity that will carry you through any momentary tragedy on this planet, and when you pass you will find yourself in heaven surrounded by all the treasures God has waiting for you.

MT 6:19-23

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.
But store up treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

“The lamp of the body is the eye.
If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light;
but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness.
And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.”