G3: God as a vending machine

Have you ever been to a vending machine? I’m going to go ahead and assume that 99.9% of the people in America have approached that transparent plastic and salivated over one of the tasty treats that lay inside. I bring up vending machines because quite frankly that’s what’s been on my mind. Just a few minutes ago I sat in my newly discovered, favorite quiet spot: the kitchen. I don’t really know about other colleges, but here at Baylor, our residential kitchens are some of the only silent places- not to mention the chairs are like soft, fluffy clouds. It is in these chairs that I retire to read every day, and it was in these chairs that a certain box of Mike and Ike’s caught my eye. There they were, smiling smugly at me safe behind their Plexiglas fortress. Over the next couple of minutes my eyes kept reverting back to that darn green box. To say I wanted them would be an understatement. It was in this constant state of staring eagle-eyed that I came to a revelation.

Many of us have our God as a vending machine.

We often pick and choose qualities of God that we would like to believe. For example, many people see God as a loving God, but often overlook His desires for justice or His burning hatred of sin. Just like I focused in on those Mike and Ike’s, it seems that Christians today spend much of their time harping solely on those aspects of God that they themselves want to consider. In this narrowed mindedness, we begin to blur, fudge, and pervert the image of God. Just look around at the portrayals of Jesus throughout your city. Within a few blocks I guarantee you will find a multitude of different opinions, depictions, and interpretations of the qualities that God possesses. When we have people picking and choosing a God catered to their taste-buds, we effectively lose sight of the bigger picture. To honor the ancient adage, we effectively “can’t see the forest for the trees.” By spotlighting chosen characteristics of Christ, we become lost looking at the proverbial trees, all the while missing that we’re in a forest.

Instead of looking at aspects of God or facets of Christianity, I encourage you to take a step back and examine it in its entirety. You might just find that instead of just a box of Mike and Ike’s, you have an entire treasure of tasty treats.