Hiding the truth
For years McDonalds hid the truth about their food, nutritional facts were nearly hidden and they used this motto on all their advertising: “100% real beef” until later it was believed that was the name of the company that supplied their meat. For a long time people complained about McDonalds’ food until the critique “Super-Size ME” scared everyone off.
The market changed; people became even more health conscious about their food because as consumers they couldn’t afford to ignore their health: we had to eat healthier, leaner and more wholesome food. That’s when McDonalds began a series of Marketing efforts to rebrand their products; french fries could now be substituted for apple slices. But recently I noticed their newest ploy…
Selling the Truth
New marketing puts an identity behind the Big Mac. Trust has to be re-established, but it can only be reinvested in a person; someone who demonstrates great discipline, reliability and conscience. Farmer Dave and his daughter Joanne, Albertan farmers with 65 years experience, now supply McDonalds with 100% pure Canadian beef. And they’re putting their reputation on the line to ensure us all its real beef. McDonalds is finally appealing to what everyone wants: Made in Canada & printed on recycled paper: that’s smart advertising.
Admitting the Truth
Recently I finished reading a friend’s book entitled, “Spiritual Sinkholes”; it made me think of church in a McDonalds’ kind of way. We’ve all heard how Christian leaders struggle with poor spiritual health, but fail to understand why. Working through ministry myself, I’ve observed a trend that leaves a trail of unhealthy spiritual practices. Here’s a challenging quote describing spiritual leaders today:
“the contemporary image is a church leader who runs on a spiritual autobahn and leads tired, thirsty sheep who eat spiritual fast food, attempt too many things, and move at breakneck speed. This pace is self-inflicted by church leaders…” (J. Caruso, p,180)
As I listen and look ahead, God caused me to realize that the spiritual teaching of Christians today overemphasize “doing for God” in place of “being with God”; intimacy with God is something we’re avoiding.
One good reason for avoiding intimacy with God is the example of Christian life we’ve been handed down doesn’t always produce wholeness in our lives. It seems to run and hide from real everyday living – provoking us to ignore any feelings and friendships that don’t fit the mold of the successful Christian experience. For many God-fearing, honest Believers, the pre-packaged Christian life of the 50’s just isn’t working in the 21st century.
So where does that leave us? We can’t go back and we can’t go on, and we can’t ignore the truth – so it’s time for an uncompromising revolution of spiritual wholeness; time for our whole lives to be transformed instead of showing the parts people notice.
Confronting Iron Man Spirituality
The kind of spiritual front people simply notice is something I call “Ironman Spirituality”. Like the movie, it looks sleek and powerful and appears readily compatible in our world of “self-help” and “try harder.” We’ve learned we can tweak ourselves! So this is apparently good news for all the procrastinators, ‘you can improve.’ The only missing component is that effort is not the focus of the Christian life, character is the focus; a change of heart. It’s much easier to change our methods than our madness.
The apostle Peter was once called the “rock” upon whom Jesus would build his church. He was the first spiritual ironman of sorts. But he learned that the strongest and most resilient traits weren’t the ones Jesus would be building the church on. Peter had a natural interest in being the man:
“He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean.” (John 13:6-10)
Peter was quick to do more than was needed, assuming he was the greater servant of Jesus. He spoke of dying for the cause but missed the boat when he was more interested in proving himself than renewing himself in the Lord. Serving the Lord flows from Him serving us; Jesus washed Peter first, providing the integrity and the means for Peter to help others.
Peter’s Hang-up
You can tell a driving issue for Peter was who appeared closest to Jesus. Peter frequently spoke for the pack, was on Jesus’ shortlist (1 of 3) for special missions and had a few defining moments (You are the Christ! Son of the living God) that made him appear more spiritual than the others. Having those experiences may have made him feel he had something to live up to instead of someone to live it out with. As a result, lofty expectations and a need for approval left him emotionally drained and excessively ambitious.
I remember a few challenging moments in my ministry experience when I adopted an unhealthy motto: “if you want a suit… I’ll give you a tux.” Looking back on those growing experiences I realize my efforts were surfacing from resentment and expectation instead of service and sacrifice. I’m starting to see it all the time now – an emotionally suppressed spirituality stifles our attitudes instead of transforming them: leaving us to live a life of silent punishment and emotional immaturity.
We seem to envision spiritual vibrancy pouring out of us like living waters, endless, abounding with bubbling joy. Just as Jesus promised, but it appears we’ve forgotten that God is the endless source of that experience. Like my “tux for a suit” routine, we begin to approach our spiritual service with an overkill mentality: pouring buckets of effort out of bitterness and resentment instead of responding with the right measures of kindness and grace. A delicate touch of the Spirit doesn’t wash with our flooding ambitions so we have to evaluate our gut feelings and temper our responses.
Another culprit that creates a detachment from our real lives is patterning our lives after rules without hearing God’s voice. Many slog through their spiritual journey thirsty for a fresh sip of motivation and momentum, trying to change on their own instead of walking with Jesus.
Somehow the Gospel of Christ’s merit has translated into our effort. Christ has been lowered from the status of personal Savior to spiritual role model. He was made like us, and He’s certainly our example. But the most important role Jesus has is He’s our Savior and apart from Him… we can do nothing of measuring up to His example.
So many of us do it without him… pastors do ministry without him! Christians do life without Jesus. And as we do we set an example of “trying harder in our own strength” it makes others feel they have to measure up to a brand. The next thing you know we’re all trying to wear an ironman suit under the skimpy fabric of athletic wear… thinking no one will notice. There’s a calling on our lives to confront the old nature, not re-label it. It’s time to learn a new spiritual legacy, one that’s a little more authentic and realistic. After all, no one will believe it if we can’t stand behind it.