Comfy Cozy

1 Peter 5:13-16 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

When I read this verse I think of it telling us two things. In your Christian lives you can either...

1)   Be tempted to do something unholy, that you’ve probably done before, but this time you decide not to do it. This can be going to a party you know will have alcohol. It could be participating in gossiping. Or, going too far with a guy or a girl.

2)   Step out of your comfort zone to do something beneficial to God’s kingdom. This could be going on a mission’s trip and participating wholeheartedly, or standing up for someone getting bullied at school. Maybe even giving up of your time, money or possessions to help someone in need.

When I was in youth group I didn’t do the mission’s trips. I didn’t like to be in vulnerable, unpredictable situations. I’m still not a fan of those situations but over the last few years I really felt led to go on an oversees mission’s trip. Shortly after becoming a youth leader there was the opportunity to go to Ecuador. I knew it was just something I had to do. Was I nervous? Yes! Was I scared? Of course. But, like this verse says, “Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then.”

I “toughed” it out and had a great time! It was amazing to see God move in another country and in another language. I would have missed seeing this if I slipped back into my old ways. I wouldn’t have seen teens in a small village give their lives to Christ. Sometimes, living for God puts you in vulnerable situations. What brings me comfort is knowing that God is there in those situations.

So, stay strong. Step out of your comfort zone when God prompts you to share His love. Or, stay out of those places that will tempt you into going back into your old lifestyle. God is always with you!

1. What is one way you have seen other people go out of their comfort zone and do something that ended up serving God?

2. When is the last time you went out of your comfort zone to do the right thing or to do something that would make an impact for God?

3. Who is a Christian friend that you need to challenge to get out of their comfort zone and so something for God?

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Written by Melissa McKechnie

Go Play in Traffic

James 4:13-17

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

A while ago I was picking up my kids from daycare. When it is warm out they play outside on a playground and the parents pull up and park and get their kids.  You open the fence, it has a lock thing on it, you close the fence, replace the lock, go get your kid, sign them out, have them say goodbye to the teacher, then back through the locked fence and replace the lock and then off you go. 

Well this one time I got there and I was walking toward the gate from my car and I notice that the gate was left open…  some parent forgot to do their job. Then I noticed something worse, a kid had gotten past the first line of defense and was headed for that gate. Now that is the daycare workers job to take care of that… but no one was, this kid was headed right out the gate and right into the parking lot filled with parents that are in a rush and barely paying attention. The kid makes it past the gate and right to the parking lot… what should I have done?

Seriously, it’s not my job… why do I need to be grabbing the kid? Plus if I do grab the kid, what if I scare the kid… then some creeper guy is grabbing kids near the playground -great. The parent should've closed that gate, they should be the one going to get this kid….   or this kids parent should be there…  they should be grabbing their own kid… right?  

No, since I see the kid and I can reach him then I need to be the one to run over there and pick up the kid and bring him back to the playground! It’s just that simple, it’s the right thing to do.  Sometimes you look at a situation and its just so easy to see what is the right thing to do. When those situations pop up you need to act.

To know what is the right thing to do and then not do it - that is sin. It’s just like that with God…  You will see situations where you know what the right thing to do is - then its your choice if you will obey or not.  Your friends are laughing at the wrong kind of jokes, do you laugh along?  Bullies are picking on the special needs kid at school. do you say something? The cool kids are picking on that girl over instagram, is there anything you can do?

I believe that God makes the right choice very visible…  its not always easy, in fact its usually hard, but it is still up to us to make good decisions.

Questions:

1.   What is a situation that you knew instantly what was the right thing to do?

2. Talk about a situation that you knew it was the right thing to do but then didn’t do it. How’d that feel later?

3. Take a minute and journal about this topic.

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Written by Jeff Harkins

a wee little man

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. (James 3:10-12 ESV)

Based on my own life, the comments of some of the other devo writers and conversations with some of you guys, I know our speech is a big deal. It has been a stumbling block for many of us in the past or currently. Why is this even something worth talking about? Cursing, gossiping, sarcasm and what not don't seem like that big of a deal compared to stealing, lying or murder.

Normally we stick a personal story/example in here, but the example that came to mind was a Bible story:
And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Luke 18:18-25 ESV)

This guy did everything the Law asked of him, but Jesus said he lacked one thing; he needed to sell his stuff and give to the poor. He can't do it, his stuff is too important to him (Says so in Matt. 19:22). Now just to clarify, this isn't a command to all of us that we cannot be wealthy. In the next chapter, we read about Zacchaeus who was not required to give away his money but he did so because it was no longer important to him once he met Jesus.

Alright, so how does this story apply to James 3 and our mouths? The rich ruler did things right--he kept the commandments. However his one stumbling block was being greedy with his money. But that one issue stopped him from while-heartedly loving and serving God.

The same is true with us and our speech. We can do really well keeping all the commandments--we go to church, read our Bibles, pray, go to church. But we struggle with the words that come out of our mouths.

James says mouths shouldn't be both good and bad, the same way that a spring can't have both fresh and salt water or a tree can only produce its own kind of fruit.

Your speech can be a stumbling block that stops you from whole-heartedly loving God (just like the money did for the rich ruler). Our mouths are an indicator of what's in our hearts. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45 ESV)


Our speech should be used as a blessing, not a curse. Here's how you can do that: Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29 ESV)


If your speech is not what it should be, use this verse as a prayer: Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! (Psalm 141:3 ESV)

Answer This:
1) do you struggle with your speech--cursing, gossiping, sarcasm, inappropriate jokes/stories?
2) what is a practical step you can take this week to improve your speech?
3) "From the same ________________ come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ________________ so."
4) take some time to journal about this passage.

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Written by Amber

Right Side, Left Side

James 3:4-5 - 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 

One story pops into my mind right away when I read this passage every time.

So it was a pretty nice day at the end of a really long and terrible week for weather. The sun was out and there were not many clouds we set into the water with our partners and paddled for what would be the last long day or paddling our canoes on this long trip. As we paddled through one large section of this massive lake things were fine, but as we got into an area between two islands the wind started blowing very hard. Soon the waves were kicking up and the wind was really strong coming into our faces. We had to keep our canoes aimed directly into the wind, if we moved off to the right or left even a little bit it would push the canoe sideways and the waves would start coming in over the side of the boat. It was started to get pretty stressful.

I was in the back of a canoe with someone, but we noticed that Amber and my German daughter (exchange student) Julia were really struggling… Julia was getting nervous and she and Amber were having a hard time controlling the boat. Every time I looked back they were further and further behind. Eventually I looked back and they have pulled the canoe all the way to the shore and they were walking their boat in the ankle deep water. This would take them all day to get to where we needed to be.

We switched and Julia got into the front of my boat. She was scared but she and I had built some trust over the year that we had lived together so we set back out into the waves and the wind. The wind was just as strong and the boat was just as hard to control… one wrong stroke and we were sideways. But Julia trusted me and listening to my words as I directed her which side of the boat to paddle on. I would yell “Right Side, Left Side” and one stroke at a time we made it against the wind to where we were headed.

This passage makes me think of that as I see how strong the wind can push a boat anywhere it wants, and how one slight move with your paddle and it will “rudder” the boat in any direction. But it is the power of words that I think about here, usually we use this passage in a negative sense that our words can tare people down and we need to tame our tongue, but that day on Lake Manitou we learned a lot about the power of your words. Amber and Julia were both trying their hardest to make the canoe go the right way, but they were not connecting… but when Julia got into the boat with me she could get past some of her insecurities and listen directly to my words, those words caused actions and she was able to do what was needed to be done to direct the boat. It’s not enough just to determine to NOT say bad things with our tongue, instead we need to learn how to use our words to HELP get you to where you want to be.

1) Can you think of a time that your words changed the outcome of a situation for the worse?

2) Can you think of a time that your words were used to change the outcome of a situation for the better?

3) So also the tongue is a _________ member, yet it boasts of _________ things.

4) What action steps will you take this week to allow you tongue to be used for Good and not Evil?

Take a minute and journal your thoughts here. 

I will survive

James 2:24-26

24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. 

25 And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 

26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Rahab was a prostitute, an outcast, defiled, destitute and alone. She left her family at a young age and sold herself to survive. The location of her home against the wall of Jericho made the perfect lookout for spies sent by Joshua to scout the land before battle. She risked her life for the cause; She knew they were led by the Lord and hid them when the King came searching for them. The Lord used Rahab to be fulfill his promise to the Israelites. She risked her life by protecting the spies and became a faithful follower of the Lord. Because of this her life was the only one spared from Jericho. The Apostle James adds to Paul’s record about Rahab being justified by faith saying that she was likewise justified by works (James 2:25). There is no contradiction between these two aspects for Rahab’s courageous deed was but faith in practice. Her faith gave her courage to shield the spies as she believed that God would triumph over His enemies. James quotes Rahab as exemplifying “justification by works.” To get a better look at this awesome story you can find it in Joshua 2.
Rahab is an example of grace, justifying through mere verbal faith. She believed with the heart (Romans 10:9-10), confessed with the mouth, and acted even at the risk of her life.


Answer this:
1. Does your faith speak louder than your words? Or do you words speak louder?
Meaning: do you say you have faith but don’t act upon it? Or can you see your faith living out by your actions? This may be a good question for you to ask a close friend or family member about yourself.
2. How can you make your faith more evident to yourself/ those around you?
3. How does Rahab’s faith and courage encourage you?
4. In what areas of your life do you need to combine both faith and works?


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Written by Sarah Davis

Faith in Action

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (‭James‬ ‭2‬:‭14-17‬ ESV)

Question: How does God know if you have faith? Well, He can see into your heart, mind and soul; He just knows if you have faith.

Another Question: How do other people know if you have faith? Well, you can tell them all about what you believe. You can talk about how you are trusting the Lord to your needs. The best way for other people to know if you have faith is to SHOW them! This is what James means in our passage today. James is building on what he said in James 1:22 which says, "But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourself."

The Christian life is about trusting God for our eternal salvation and daily living. It is having faith, trusting that God's Word is true. God sees into our hearts and knows our faith. Others see our faith as we put it into action.

My challenge to you: to make a commitment to give to the needs of a missionary. I know you are thinking, "You tell me to give, I don't have much." That is why it is called faith in action!


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Written by Jim Dugan (CBC Missionary to Australia)

just a little punch

James 2:11-13

11 For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 

12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 

13 Forjudgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

When I pick up my kid at school every day I ask how he is was during the day… I do like to know if he had a fun day and if he felt good and all that stuff, but when I ask I am asking about his behavior, because he has had some issues in the past and i want to stay on top of that and make sure that he is behaving. So the other day I asked how he was and he got all excited, a little too excited… “I was so good during nap time today Dad, I was so quiet and the other kids were being loud, but I was quiet… and when I wanted to play with Sophia under the table (yeah, I know that sounds odd for nap time) instead I just closed my eyes and tried to take my nap, and I never talked, even when Mr. Matt had to talk to all the other kids, I was being so good, I
was being super good, etc… blah blah blah” he went on and on about how good he was being during nap time.. so when he finally finished bragging about his nap time skills Mr Matt leaned down and said “you really were good during nap time buddy, but then what happened?” and my son was still up beat and just passed right on past this info - “oh yeah, well then i punched Vinnie, but I was super good during nap time!!”
When I wanted to know how his day was it just wasn't good enough to know that he was good at nap time, if you are good at nap time but get in a fight at playground time you can’t call is a great day! So Liam still had consequences for fighting even though he was being good. So here is the thing, I need to get my kid to understand that he has to follow the rules.
So we set up consequences for actions, both positive and negative.
Anything from not getting a piece of candy on the way home all the way up to some bigger consequences for bigger crimes. He needs to learn from his mistakes… however, it would be really rough if his school had a one strike and you're our policy. See, what happens is he and his friends get playing ninja turtles and one gets hit, thats what happens - its not like a real fight or anything… the teacher knows that, he still needs it to stop
but he knows that Liam is not a threat to the class so he is able to show Mercy and not kick him out of the school.
It’s the same way with God. Sure we all sin, and sin is sin. there will be consequences for our actions of course and we will hopefully grow and learn from those… but God usually doesn't sentence us to death every time we sin… be a really empty Earth if He did! He shows us Mercy when He could show judgement. That doesn’t make sin ok, there are always consequences in life, but his Mercy allows us to keep going so we can learn from our
mistake.

Answer this:
1) Name a time that you received Mercy instead of judgement.
2) Why does God even care, if we are all technically forgiven already why would he work consequences into our lives for the
actions we do?
3) “For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do _____, you
have become a ___________ of the law.”
4) Take a minute to journal about this passage.

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Written by Jeff

i learned it from watching you!

When I was in middle school, I had a little bit of a potty mouth (ok a pretty terrible mouth actually). I went to church and listen to Bible stories and lessons, but I didn't live it out. I would invite my friends to youth group and the different activities but they never came and I never knew why.

One day this kid from my neighborhood, who was literally the worst person I knew, told me I cursed too much. Until that moment I don't think I ever realized that there were bad consequences to the way I talked. I mean, I knew if my mom heard me I'd be in big trouble, but I never thought that it made a difference otherwise. God used that to change the way I talk.

A few years ago, a friend was upset and telling me what she was mad about while cursing a mile a minute. At one point, she stopped, looked at me funny, and said, "you don't curse," then continued venting without cursing. I never told this person that I don't curse, she just noticed it over the years we have known each other.

Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:6-10 ESV)

In this passage, Paul is talking about how good choices have good consequences and bad choices have bad consequences, right? He uses a farming analogy to explain though. If we sow (or plant) our flesh (which refers to our sinful, worldly desires), we will reap (or grow or harvest) corruption. If we sow the Spirit, we will reap eternal life.

Seems like an obvious choice – I want eternal life, not corruption.

In youth group, Jeff mentioned Liam being frustrated that bad decisions get him bad consequences but he wondered when he's ever going to get good consequences for his good decisions. Do you ever feel that way? I know I do at times. That's why Paul that encourages us not to give up and to continue doing good. He knows it won't always be easy; that doing what is right can be quite difficult. But, eventually there will be good consequences!

Answer This:

1) I have seen bad consequences for my bad language and good consequences from my clean language. Is there an area you reap what you've sown – good or bad?

2) Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one _______________, that will he also _______________.

3) Can you relate to Liam? Do you ever feel like there are only bad consequences not good consequences?

4) Take a minute to journal about this passage.

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Written by Amber Carter

that's what Cleck said.

Galatians 5:16-24- But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 

Have you ever been conflicted? We all have. We know something is right, but want to do the opposite. Maybe it’s something small, and you are willing to push aside that little voice in your head telling you not to, or maybe it’s something big, but it’s all the same to God.

Paul writes about this subject in Galatians 5:16-24. He says, “walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh.” There is no compromise between the two: either you follow what the Spirit wants or you do what the flesh wants.

The “sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, stifle, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” that Paul mentions often seem very appealing and are frequently easier than resisting them. The rewards however, are very different. By indulging in these acts, you may feel happy or relieved for the time being, but by opposing them, and allowing the Spirit to lead you, you will gain eternal rewards. 

I remember one of the first messages that Pastor Cleck preached. He entered the sanctuary dragging behind him the large wooden cross that now resides in the library. He talked about how, that as Christians, we must always bear our own cross. The problem is that some of the places we go or relationships we enter have very small doors that our crosses will not fit through. We must then decide if we want to leave our cross at the door and go in or stay away and follow our cross. 

I know that we don’t actually carry giant crosses around with us, but the idea is the same. There will be many times in each one of our lives when the Bible will contradict what we want to do. Paul goes on to say that, “the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” We should not feel like we have to sacrifice our lives in order to fulfill these fruits, but should be delighted to do so. God sacrificed his Son so that we could spend eternity with Him, and as Paul said, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

 1.   In what ways are you giving in to the wants of the flash?

2.   Which fruit of the Spirit do you need to work on the most?

3.   How do you plan to make this change in you life?

4. Take a minute and journal about this passage.

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Written by Hannah

two turn tables and a microphone

Galatians 5:13-15- For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

When I went to college music was a big issue for Christians. There weren’t really many solid Christians that were making good music that was getting radio time… guys like Mat Kearney, Switchfoot, Owl City (Christian guys that just make good music) were really rare. So there was a huge divide between “Christian Music” and “Secular Music”. At my Christian college probably 90% of us students went through a “Purge my music collection” phase of life where we just threw out all of our “Secular” music (that’s anything that is not overtly Christian music). We would actually sit and take songs by guys that love God and we would judge if the song was “Christian enough”, it’s really embarrassing to think about it now… Imagine: Kyle Davis’ company is a “Christian owned” construction company (General Contractor actually) but imagine we sat around and looked at the work they did last year and judged “well, this church they built over here works for me, but that bank they built over there is just not Christian enough”. Eventually, I began to realize that Jesus does not require me only to listen to music that quotes Bible verses… Jesus has made me free to listen to what I want to listen to … however, the Bible reminds us that even though something is “lawful” (OK to do) it might not be “profitable” (the best thing for us)…  so, I opened up my music collection and kept my Christian stuff and then brought in one or two regular albums (“Secular” is the buzz word from back then), but soon I went from reading the lyrics and deciding if it was “profitable” for me, to a spot where I was just forgetting about the lyrics and just picking any music that sounded good to me…  One day I’m driving around with a friend in my car and a Madonna song comes on (hey, don’t judge me!) and I’m singing along (seriously, quit judging me!) and the girl I’m with in the car just says “Hey can we change this song, I’m not a fan of this song, I was listening to it the night I lost my virginity - not a good memory.” and the lyrics of the song then became so alive to me and they were so very inappropriate. Jesus gave me the freedom to listen to music, my music didn’t have to have Bible verses in it… but I took that freedom and kept going so that it now was actually hurting other people… even though I didn’t mean it - I still hurt my friend that was listening.

DJ Ben Berry

I think music gets a bad rap though…  most illustrations about music end up like my story here. “I was given a freedom and I misused it”… but that’s not always the case - don’t run away from music. God uses music to stir emotions in people and we are all very emotional beings. My friend Ben Berry was big into music as a teenager, then he went to Liberty University and still had a passion for music. Some people at that time were saying that Christians shouldn't get involved in Hip Hop or rap music… but Ben knew that he had freedom given by God to engage with music and see how it can be used to stir souls.  Eventually Ben was DJ’ing radio shows and traveling across the country to DJ for top quality artists that were using music to fire people up about Jesus. Don’t be afraid of music we are free to use it to glorify God… in fact we are free to pursue whatever God has gifted you in, find your gifts and use them to glorify God! 

Answer This:

1.   What freedom have you been guilty of abusing? What have you taken advantage of in the name of “freedom”?

2. What “freedom” will I choose not to engage just because I know it will hurt someone else around me.

3. “Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”

4. Take a minute and journal about this passage.

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Written by Jeff Harkins

Where’s the Beef?

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