Fast Food and Faith

I work at Chick-fil-a, and we call ourselves a quick-service restaurant (same as fast food, just cleverly disguised under a fancier description). We serve chicken filets, chicken nuggets, chicken strips, chicken salad, chicken salad sandwiches, and sometime this year we will be getting a spicy chicken sandwich! What I find interesting, though, isn't the food we serve, but rather the people who serve it.

During my time at Chick-fil-a, there has always been employees who waltz right in the door and start barking orders as if they're somebody special. How does everyone else respond? They hate him/her (in my store, it's generally been a guy). They ignore that individual because even though he/she may have great ideas, he/she does not understand how authority has been structured at Chick-fil-a. In short, these bossy butts (yes, I actually used "bossy butt" in a sentence...) have no right to say half of the things they say, yet they try to act as if they are some sort of authority figure.

What does this have to do with faith? Everything.

In Romans 14, believers are instructed to "accept him whose faith is weak without passing judgment." If someone believes it is wrong to eat meat, one who eats meat should not judge the other man/woman. What rights do we have to pass judgment on a child of God, who He has called righteous in His sight? They are His servant, not ours. They answer to Him, as will we. We'd do better to make sure we are walking in a manner pleasing to our Master.

Also, think about this. It is also written that "Christ died and returned to life that He may be the Lord of both the living and the dead." In other words, Jesus Christ is Lord of ALL. He reigns over every person who exists, existed, and will exist. All will be held accountable to Him, and no other. So why judge your brother for their weak faith, for whom Christ died? You will answer to the same Master as they.

Therefore, we need a shift in our mindset. It says in the same chapter that "the kingdom of God is a matter of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit," and all of these things come by faith. Further, "anything that does not come from faith is sin." Recall, "without faith it is impossible to please God." The issue is not whether eating meat or drinking wine is wrong - the issue is about the faith of our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is by faith that we received the righteousness of God; it is by faith that we have peace, in our position in Christ Jesus. The joy of the Lord is our strength, and that joy is found in Christ Jesus, received by faith. And this is what pleases the Lord - that which comes from faith.

So let's try our hardest to do what builds up and encourages everyone. But if we think we are in a place where we can judge others, that is what we will do. Yet the scriptures are clear - that place belongs to Jesus Christ alone, and we serve Him. Our faith, and the faith of our brothers and sisters is what matters.

So just like a store with people who do not understand the structuring of authority destroys working relationships, the same happens in the church, in families, anywhere. We do not need more people who think highly of themselves. We need to know Christ; I need to know Christ. Only then can we really know our lowly position, how imperfect we are and unable to judge another, how Jesus Christ is Lord of ALL. People, relationships, these are valuable to us and before God. Faith is what matters to God, not our ability to be "better" than the next man.

Praise God for sending us His Son! And for the freedom that comes from knowing Him, for righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. I pray that I might know Him more, and to know more fully what I have written, and that you too may know Him.

Why I Love the Old Hymns

I love the old hymns, and have grown especially attached over the last few years to several of them. (Many of them are written below, if you wish to see them) In these particular hymns, the message of the cross, the gospel, is clearly explained. That is, there is only one way to attain righteousness in the sight of God, which is through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

I could try to be a good person, but I cannot keep it together well enough. Even on my best days, I fall short of God's perfection. But praise God that in His mercy and love He provided a way. While the world was still in sin, God sent His only Son Jesus to be born of a virgin, so that Jesus would live the perfect sinless life we cannot. Then Jesus Christ was crucified, and there he took on Himself the sin of the world. There, He paid the price we could not pay; He paid the debt He did not owe.

As He died, He called out "It Is Finished!" His work was complete, and it is still complete. All that God requires for a sinner to be made righteous is to believe in Jesus. All God requires is that a sinner puts his/her faith in what Jesus accomplished on the cross, and God looks upon their sin no more.

That is the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; that is the beauty of God's love, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us that we might be restored to a relationship with God. Jesus Christ bore our sin and shame so that we could stand before God the Father without either. And it has nothing to do with our accomplishments, but everything to do with what Jesus accomplished for us.

Will you believe? Will you put your faith in Jesus? You don't have to wait until you're a better person - in fact, you can't even become a better person. The only righteousness that God considers in His perfection - and that is given as a free gift by God Himself. Willl you receive that gift by faith? It is all that God requires, to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead so that you would have life and peace. Only faith in the Son of God can make a person right with God, and God has made that completely free. The blood of Jesus that washes away our sins has been made available - the question is, will you believe and receive it?

========================================
"Jesus Paid It All"

I hear the Savior say, "Thy strength indeed is small,
Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in me thine all in all."

(Chorus)
Jesus paid it all, All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.

Lord, now indeed I find Thy power, and Thine alone
Can change the leper's spots, and melt the heart of stone.

(Chorus)

For nothing good have I whereby Thy grace to claim -
I'll wash my garments white in the blood of Calvary's Lamb.

(Chorus)

And when before the throne I stand in Him complete,
"Jesus died, my soul to save," My lips shall still repeat

(Chorus)

==================================
"Nothing But the Blood"

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

(Chorus)
Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other found I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon this I see - Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing, this I plea - Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

(Chorus)

Nothing can for sin atone - Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done - Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

(Chorus)

This is all my hope and peace - Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness - Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

(Chorus)

=====================================
"Are You Washed in the Blood?"

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

(Chorus)
Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are you garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you walking daily by the Savior's side?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Do you rest each moment in the crucified?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

(Chorus)

When the Bridegroom cometh willl your robes be white?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb?

(Chorus)

Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb;
There's a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,
O be washed in the blood of the Lamb.

(Chorus)

======================================
"Glory to His Name"

Down at the cross where my Savior died,
Down where for cleansing from sin I cried,
There to my heart was the blood applied;
Glory to His name!

I am so wondrously saved from sin,
Jesus so sweetly abides within,
There at the cross where He took me in;
Glory to His name!

Oh, precious fountain that saves from sin,
I am so glad I have entered in,
There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean;
Glory to His name!

Come to this fountain so rich and sweet;
Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's feet;
Plunge in today and be made complete;
Glory to His name!