Are You Practicing Cafeteria Christianity?

“The temptation to modify the teachings of Christ with the hope that larger numbers may ‘accept’ Him is cruelly strong in this day of speed, size, noise and crowds. But if we know what is good for us, we’ll resist it with every power at our command.” A.W. Tozer

When you step into a cafeteria, what comes to mind? In my mind, you go through a line with a tray and pick from a line of foods that you like. You overlook those foods that are not as palatable to you that day. In the end, you have an offering of foods that suits your fancy. Other days there may be other offerings to choose from and the perusing of taste begins again. As an aside, I love old movies. Doris Day is an absolute favorite. In the movie, “That Touch of Mink” Doris went to an automat. It looked like a vending machine for lunch, in each window you could choose what tickled your fancy that day. Insert a few coins, push the button, open the door and voila! You have lunch. The rest of the movie involves Cary Grant, some beautiful clothes and some comedic quips all throughout. It is well worth a watch. 

What is Cafeteria Christianity?

What if we are practicing cafeteria Christianity? We walk through the day and pick the precepts that seem right to us that day, rather than taking in the whole counsel of God’s Word and our walk with Him? Certainly the Corporate Church as a whole in the last few years has advocated for pick and choose Christianity. Why is that? It could be said that the church has bowed to society rather than taking the position of influence. I must say, I concur. Yesterday I read a quote that said, “A lot of people’s version of ‘Christianity’ boils down to: -be nice, -tolerate everything,-don’t judge anybody, ever. I don’t know what religion that is but it’s not Christianity.” Unknown. Amen friend, Amen. 

God’s Love is not trite it is all encompassing

In the last few years the theme of many churches has been: “The Scripture says, ‘Love God and love your neighbor. That’s all I have to do.” Those statements are true to be sure, but have you really and truly looked at what those simple commands mean? In our rush to defend those principles without true knowledge, we have indeed become “Cafeteria Christians.” Scripture tells us that we perish for lack of knowledge. Do you know the scriptures (you don’t have to be a scholar)? Is there a time (even if it is 15 minutes) you spend trying to understand God’s Word? I believe many of you might think perhaps it is time to do so. Floods, fire, unrest, anger, division, earthquakes. These things occurred in the last few days! The time has come to get to know God and His Word. 

The Greatest Commandment

Let’s start with the first greatest command that Jesus gave in Matthew 22. The disciples asked Jesus the greatest command, to which He replied: To Love the Lord God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength. How can we in our humanity love God with such devotion? Certainly with our fickle emotions, life, the universe and everything it is impossible, right? While we may never achieve perfection we can move in that direction by making God a first priority in our lives by making His Word the center of all that we do. After all, the Scripture tells us in Acts to live and move and have our being in Him. 

God’s Love does not mean tolerate everything

To Love God is not just a phrase we utter and say that we tolerate everything. To Love God means to offer our devotion in our lives, in study of His Word, by seeking to understand His character and walking in His ways. To love Him with your heart means to give Him your desires, to give all to Him on a daily basis. In the Jewish faith they say the Shema each and every day. In that prayer, they declare to love God with all of their being. We must do the same. Loving God means to give Him our mind, our will and our emotions, to know Him and seek Him in every aspect of our lives. We can’t pick and choose, that path leads to a cafeteria that picks and chooses what tickles our fancy that day. 

God is unchangeable and so is His Love

Also encompassed in the command to Love God is to know that He never changes. In this world, things change. The great struggle continues to soldier on, the enemy seeks to kill, steal, and destroy our lives, the church and the world. How does he do that? By lessening the command to Love God. He won’t come in and simply declare to the church, “Hey! Don’t do that God’s Word stuff! Live in your flesh! Accept everything.” He’s a bit more subtle than that. He sneaks into our lives through difficult circumstances, roiling our emotions or appealing to the lust of our flesh. He also slithers in via church theology, those words that were written about sin? God meant them, how like the enemy to come and say: “Did God really mean you can’t accept that sin? After all, He did command us to love everyone.” Church, from the foundation of the world God meant what He said. His declaration of sin, love, life and dwelling has not changed from the foundation of the world. 

The Church of the World embraces sin

The church of the world gives tremendous pressure to those who are considered “not loving” because after all, God loves everyone. Yes, God does indeed love everyone, but that love means He wants us to understand that His Word is true, His precepts are for our good, and His way is perfect. When the scripture told us that there is a way that seems right to a man, God was telling us our ability, our flesh, our beliefs may seem right to us but in the end, they lead to destruction. God’s ways, His walk is offensive to our flesh and vice versa. With these thoughts and feelings ruling the church no wonder we feel like we can walk through the cafeteria line and pick what feels right to us that day. Also, when those in places of authority in the church echo those same sentiments we find ourselves right where we are today; full of fear, full of lust, full of every good thing that we believe will fill us up as a meal. Afterwards we are full of regret, indigestion and no peace. To love God means to seek Him as if He is the center of all that we are. 

Loving our neighbor means to give them His Word

To give God’s love to others means to give them God’s Word which builds us up, confronts our sin and brings us to closer to Him rather than closer to our flesh and destruction. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we have His love inside of us when we believe in Him. In that love, and the instruction of God’s Word, we can grow closer to Him and let that love mold us more and more in His image. Also, we can give that love to others through His Word. Only God’s love is lasting, only God’s love can make a true difference. You may ask, “But Kathy!? Love covers a multitude of sins! The scripture says so.” Yes, it does. In that definition of love, we see what I Corinthians 13 tells us: that love rejoices in Truth. Who is the Truth? Jesus Christ. He is The Way, The Truth, and The Life. 

God’s Word does amazing work for our neighbors

To love someone is to give them God’s Word and let it do its work. Loving your neighbor as yourself means sharing His Word and His precepts. In our culture of me! Me! Me! Selfies, lovers of self, self care, influencers of self and all its accouterments, how do we love ourselves and let it spill over to our neighbors? God made it quite simple, to know and dwell in Him. Get into His Word, let it become a part of you. Find a church that teaches the whole counsel of God’s Word, not a church that bows to the cultural zeitgeist of the moment. Loving God and loving your neighbor is much needed at the moment. Look at the world, church. It’s on a huge precipice, we can make a difference. 

It’s time to BE the Church in a crazy world

It’s time to step up and BE the church. There is a page that I follow online, it is called: Letters from Paul. Recently he posted this quote: “We affirm everyone’s beliefs because we don’t want people to think we are mean and scare them away.” The Modern Church. The quote continues on: “I do not care very much what men say of me, provided that God approves of me.” Saint Thomas More. It’s time dear readers to ask ourselves if we step into the cafeteria everyday and choose which bits of Christianity we choose to follow. Or do we follow His example of Loving by living in His Word. 

The Apostle Paul gave us some wonderful advice

For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose and plan of God. Take care and be on guard for yourselves and for the whole flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as overseers, to shepherd (tend, feed, guide) the church of God which He bought with His own blood. I know that after I am gone, [false teachers like] ferocious wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; even from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse and distorted things, to draw away the disciples after themselves [as their followers]. Therefore be continually alert.  May we enjoy each and every portion of the buffet that is God’s Word.