“There’s only one thing I hate more than lying: skim milk, which is water that’s lying about being milk.”
-Ron Swanson
We hate the fake, right? The off-brand companies, and worse, the off-brand people, that attempt so willfully to look like the real thing, but we’re smarter than that, aren’t we? We can see right through the glazed eyes and head nods into the mind that is really thinking of whatever milk and honey it is seeking after today. The world is filled with countless pleasantries and emotional whims that seem to fill the culture with a people appealing on the outside, and perhaps even on the inside for a little while, but that is in fact not what it seems to be.
It is so extremely easy to be an off-brand Christian.
The lukewarm is often the most comfortable place to reside, where Jesus is pretty nice and God would never let anything bad happen to His people. I mean He created us, and we are decent people. No doubt He would not allow us to be uncomfortable or unsure. God wants the American dream for us. He sees the intelligence of humanity and He realizes that they need what they want; they know what is best for themselves. God gives us material possessions simply so that in Him we can have a good life and then get out of hell someday (BONUS!). Could it be said that God is now the follower?
This is not Christianity. It is a false sense of Christianity claiming to be the real thing, and worse than that, it is an attack from the enemy that leads to death and destruction. God is God. He created us and He alone knows what is best for us. It is so extremely easy to think the off-brand will satisfy. This seems to give the best of both worlds: love from God and comfort from the world. How could life get any better?
The truth of the gospel is, however, that this way of life is not only unsatisfying, but impossible (Matthew 6:24).
The call that the gospel puts on the lives of all who claim to follow Jesus is to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Jesus (Mark 8:34), and the satisfaction and reward that the gospel promises as consequence is beyond our comprehension (Colossians 3:24). True joy is found only in full surrender to Jesus, and He alone satisfies the hurting, bleeding soul.
Jesus calls us to die to ourselves. He promises that we will suffer with Him for the sake of the Gospel and that the world will hate and persecute us, but He also promises that this way of life is the only way of life. It is the only road on which true joy is found. Anything else is not life, but rather a false sense of hope that people give themselves to make it through. It is the off-brand, a fake, a liar.
God promises true life and satisfaction (Psalm 16:11). It costs our lives, but we were never living in the first place.
This life is the only possible hope we have at a future filled with joy and reward. Anything else is false joy.
The reality, and beauty, of this is that when our minds and hearts believe that Jesus is our full and highest satisfaction possible, when we realize that being in the presence of God is the most rewarding and joy-filled experience possible, giving up our life to gain His life seems to be the only option. We see that this is the absolute best for us and that since we are His children, God really does want the greatest for us. He really does love us more than can be known.
“God is the highest good of the reasonable creature. The enjoyment of him is our proper; and is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Better than fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of any, or all earthly friends. These are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean.”
-Jonathan Edwards
God is far, far greater than humans can possibly know. That God allows us into His presence is a daily miracle, and yet we find ourselves settling for whatever joy the new car will bring. Are we kidding ourselves? Let us together run to Christ, knowing that in Him alone will we ever experience true joy, life and satisfaction.
