Galatians
4: 8-11
8 Before you
Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. 9 So now that you
know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back
again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles
of this world? 10 You
are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or
seasons or years. 11 I
fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing.
So
the other day I’m driving home from New York and I
need gas so I pull off the highway and I notice a new restaurant in this town
that I had gotten gas in before. Now this was not just any building, this was
the home of some of the most delicious morsels that could ever touch your lips.
If being friends with Frankie has taught me one important thing, it most
certainly is this: don’t sleep on the Louisiana Lickers at
Quaker Steak and Lube.
You
see years ago Frankie told me about these chicken wings they are sold at a gas
station themed restaurant in western PA called Quaker Steak and Lube. I got the
wings on my trip to Pittsburg that year, I bought some for Frankie and brought
them home…
and I’ve never looked back. To this day,
those are some of the best wings that I know of - and I try wings everywhere,
from the home of the original Buffalo wing at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, to
this little greasy hole in south jersey that I will one day dedicate my first
heart bypass to - I have eaten my share of wings!
So
there I am off the highway ready to get gas when I see this old familiar sign
that calls to me in a voice I can not argue with… I
wasn’t hungry at all, but once I saw that
sign I knew I was getting wings (and I’d be getting a bucket for Frankie and
bringing them to his house and hoping that he was home)… so
I go over and order my wings, and I drive over to get gas at the Wawa next door
while they are making my wings. And then I notice something else, a building in
between the Wawa and Quaker Steak, one that I would not normally ever walk into
because of the shame that I would feel to have to admit that I even walked into
this place, it is not a place that I rank high on my list of top places to eat
.. it was a White Castle.
We
are not so familiar with the tiny square experience called White Castle in this
area and for good reason… I swear to you that this is true: I
once offered a homeless man a lunch and he was excited until he realized I was
talking about a bunch of White Castle burgers, he turned me down. These are
burgers that a homeless man turned down. To be fair there are many people that
do love White Castle burgers, but if you get talking to them they always have
the same reason… those burgers remind them of a day
long ago when they used to eat those burgers as a kid… a day when taste simply didn’t
matter.
These
White Castle burgers are cute though, they come in their own little box, they
are about a quarter the size of a normal burger, the tiny little patty of thin
greasy grey meat is actually a square and comes with holes in it… and the longer you leave them in the
little box inside that paper bag they become soggier and soggier with the steam
and moisture generated. By the time you
get home you have a ridiculous number of small, cold, sorry meat squares on wet
slider buns. Sounds great huh?
Well
I grabbed some White Castle burgers for my daughter who loves burgers and I wanted
her to see what these were like, I knew she would think they were cute. And she
did, they were cute and she loved it… until she took a bite. No more of that! She didn’t
eat them. So later that night I find myself nice and hungry and I head to the
kitchen to get me some of those delicious wings from Quaker Steak….
I could almost taste the sauce on my tongue as I entered the kitchen… then, after a series of inner battles
and choices that I simply an not proud of… I found myself eating the soggy,
cold, now old, little gray slabs of square meat on really wet slider buns… I
had the Quaker Steak wings in my grasp but for some dumb reason I went for the
White Castle burgers that my 6 year old had rejected.
Then
later when I should have been going for more wings I was actually going for the
Pepto to try to convince my stomach that I wouldn't die after eating those
square slabs of greasy shame.
Thats
what this passage is talking about… these Gentiles know God, they have
met Him and experienced the life changing awesomeness that comes with a life
with God…
but still they were choosing to go back to their old ways,
their unsatisfying ways that simply would not leave them happy. Yet they would
choose it anyway.
It’s
easy for you to judge me and my lack of self control as I shamefully devoured
those tiny grease filled burgers … and we even look at the Galatians and
judge them because they went from knowing about the real God to choosing to
worship a statue that they made. I judge them. I look at them and say they are
so dumb for what they did, they should have known better… but then I turn around and do the
same thing… not to a golden statue that I made,
but to some other objects in my life that I choose to spend more time with then
the time I spend with God… I reject God every day for things
that really will never leave me fulfilled. When I have the Creator of the
heavens and the earth right at my fingertips, instead I choose greasy little
burger meat squares. yuck.
Questions:
1.
What is an area in life that you
settle for second best and you could have the best if you really wanted it?
2.
What is your spiritual example of the
greasy little burger - where do you choose not to lean on God?
3.
“why
do you want to go back again and become _______ once more to the weak and
useless __________ principles of this world?”
4.
Take a minute and journal about this
passage.
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Written by Jeff
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