CS Lewis is famous for saying that the problem with most Christians is that they don’t want enough. “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant my the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too pleased.”
The mundane alleyway of life is a great place for getting fat, maxing out your credit card, devouring more romance novels, losing yourself in World of Warcraft and Halo 3, drowning yourself in a bad relationship, lusting over control, discovering pornography websites, being addicted to exercise, or pouring yourself into the routine schedule of ministry.
It’s not the quantity of our wants, but the quality of them. Instead of feasting on Manna, we settle for Maggots. We run to false shelters that wither like grass, only to leave us naked and exposed in the elements.
Jesus reminds us that He is the bread of life (John 6:27-35). Manna was the taste; Jesus is the meal. Manna was the chips-and-salsa before the steak fajitas arrived. Simple bread that truly satisfies. As we grow in Christ, shouldn’t the Christian life become simpler? Shouldn’t we become more concerned with Him and less concerned with the stuff of Earth? Shouldn’t we hunger for his divine presence? Shouldn’t we thirst for his Word? Shouldn’t we desire to be clothed in righteousness? The random acts of kindness (manna) we do in His name are only the precursor to the rule and reign of the Kingdom meal.
In days like these, I hunger for the Kingdom. It’s political affiliation is both liberal and conservative. (People are already asking me who I’ll be voting for as President. But I’m not sure I need a president when I’ve already got a King…) It is a way of living that can only be experienced through Christ (the only Way), yet it invites anyone who will call on His name. It gives me a hunger for more of Him. More of His way. His rule. His all-encompassing way of doing life—restoring shalom and harmony to this world—and feasting on the good-for-today-only manna in the meantime.
Once upon a time, there was a great guy who sang a popular little song called ‘He’s All You Need’. It was the CCM rally cry to call to Jesus in times of trouble because, well…He is evidently all I need. As I look back, I get the feeling that it was more along the lines of Jesus being my life boat—after I’ve tried everything else and the ship was going down and all the crew was lost at sea and no one was answering the mayday call on the radio—then I could jump ship and the Life Boat would keep me from drowning in the night. He wasn’t really all I needed unless I was in distress. Then He’d bail me out.
Of course, the song was absolutely right. Jesus IS our lifeline in days of distress and disaster and discouragement. And, IMO, if He can’t be God when you’re in deep poo-poo then He doesn’t need to be God when you’re skipping rope. But it hast to be all or nothing. He has to be ‘all you need’ when you’re swimming in self-sufficiency. When you’re chest-deep in ego and materialism and consumerism. (I think the Bible uses the words ‘lust’ and ‘greed’…)
What about when the advertisers tell us our life will be better when it’s filled with sexy partners, sexy sports cars driven by Kate Walsh (this is a little odd to me…), chic clothes, the hottest gizmos, and a slimmer waistline? How often do we buy into the lies? While sitting in Lou’s Tavern one night, the great theologian Tyler Durden once said, ‘The things you own, end up owning you.’ He wasn’t just talking about material things. The truth is that you become whatever you give yourself to. Whatever I worship or desire is what I end up becoming.
You and I become what we want.