Christian McNuggets

Hey Boys and Girls, it’s time for “Cooking With Uncle Jer’.” Our recipes for today all use the same main ingredient: snake! We have Snake Adobo, Snake Guam Style (Coconut Milk), even Sweet and Sour Snake.

Doesn’t that sound yummy?

In a word, NO!

Missionary Wayne Cagle’s wife, Judy, told me that snake does not taste like chicken. Why is it that every gross thing somebody wants you to eat is compared to chicken? “Go ahead and try it,” they say, “it tastes like chicken.”

Well if it tastes like chicken, can’t I just have chicken? By the way, whatever it is, it never does taste like chicken. This is one of the great lies of life. It’s right up there with, “The check is in the mail,” and “Your package shipped out last night.”

I don’t know about you, but I’ll just go ahead and have the chicken.

McDonald’s serves Chicken McNuggets. These supposed food items intrigue me. They in no way resemble chickens. There are no bones, no feathers, no eggs, nothing that gives us any indication that they are now, or ever were, chickens. I showed a package of McNuggets to a hen in my neighborhood, expecting an anguished cry as she recognized her Uncle Filbert or Aunt Hortence. Nothing. No reaction, no shrieking, no clucking, no notice even paid. Even chickens don’t consider McNuggets the real thing!

I see people all the time who consider themselves Christians. When you ask them why, they are quick to tell you, “I go to church.”

Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonald’s makes you a Big Mac! You can cover your body with Secret Sauce, sprinkle sesame seeds on your head, and wear styrofoam clothes, but that won’t make you a Big Mac. You can go to church every Sunday, carry a twenty pound family Bible, and wear a cross made out of railroad spikes around your neck, but that doesn’t make you a Christian!

We have plenty of Christian McNuggets around us today…

People who talk about prayer but never pray.

People who say they to belong to the church but never attend.

People who say the Bible is God’s Word but never read it.

People who criticize others for things they do themselves.

People who stay away from church for trivial reasons and still sing, “Oh, How I Love Jesus.”

People who continue in sin all their lives but expect to go to Heaven.

So what makes one a Christian? Living for Christ. Living for Him with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” John 14:15

and…

“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” {22} Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” {23} Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:21-23 NIV)

It is obedience that makes you a Christian, not appearances or attendance. The greatest threat to Christianity today is not drug dealers, prostitutes, Adolf Hitler, or even Lady Gaga. They can’t do anything to halt Christianity. No, the greatest threat is Christians. By our inaction, complacency, and downright hypocrisy we can halt the spread of the Gospel in a way no pervert, dictator, or musician ever could.

If you call yourself a Christian then obedience is not an option in your life, it is a rule. I see far too many Christian McNuggets out there. You can tell who they are. They’re the ones who say they are Christians, but their lives don’t resemble Christ in any way, shape or form.

Looking for a hamburger… Jerry