How Long Will Fast Food for the Soul Satisfy?
My wife's dominion over the remote control was still in force when I returned home from the men's retreat. This meant that The Kitchen was on the air. A guest chef was lovingly preparing a taco wrap. He was so meticulous in his craft that he, as a final flourish, submitted his creation to a buttered griddle to perfect a golden seal to hold it together. Presentation being part of enjoyment, he halved his effort to let the viewer see the well-layered colors inside. Cooking regular Sunny Anderson admired that such a restaurant quality effort could be rendered at home, but she was a little protective. My first job was in fast food, she said. Don't put me out of business.
On that note, the show was actually sponsored by ubiquitous chain of franchise outposts that turns out fast Mexican food, with some items less than a dollar. We can surmise, even if we have never been surrounded by its plastic decor that the dining experience offered here could not compete with the labor of love the restaurant just sponsored. At first, I thought their ad buy was undertaken with about as much thought as goes into squirting sour cream into their burrito. I reconsidered.
The Kitchen showcased an ideal. This is the Mexican you could create in eight minutes IF you had the experience and passion of this guest chef IF you cared enough. Stoking that desire is to the advantage of the chain restaurant, even if they can't fulfill it in every detail. They can supply good enough for inexpensive enough.
I think a similar utility is at work when an overmatched enemy of our souls decides whether or not to snatch the seed of God's Word from our hearts. He can. See Matthew 13:19. This is a risky play for temporary advantage, however. Christ said in Matthew 24:35 that the Word will remain forever. Dull humans may even begin to notice when the Word that once warmed us is missing and ask for the Holy Spirit's help in remembering it in keeping with John 14:26. The last thing Satan wants to do is to help us be hungrier for the Bible.
Thus we arrive at Satan settling for the fast food strategy. As the Christian looks longingly at the biblical ideal so carefully crafted over time by the Master Chef, hunger for the holy deepens in us. Just as the chef on The Kitchen shows us his effort inside and out, our God is that thorough, that patient, and that certain of the final result toward which He is working. As we begin to hunger for virtue but dread discipleship as time-consuming and likely to reveal our weaknesses and willfulness, then comes the timely offer of the fast food version of virtue. Settle for this, offers the lust of the eyes. It's good enough. It looks superficially similar. Settle for this, offers the lust of the flesh. It won't require waiting. Settle for this, offers the pride of life. You can order it on your terms.
The Master Chef keeps working, even so. More frustrating for the enemy and encouraging for us, He continues to display His glory as Great Physician, Perfect Parent, Designer and Sustainer of the Heavens. Everywhere we look, even while munching on synthetic substitutes and regretting it, God continues to show us the difference between His long-term, undeterred plan for us, and anything we could grasp impulsively for ourselves. One day, with all Eternity as the vastest of canvases upon which to display His character, fast food, and its soul equivalent will be put out of business for good.
On that note, the show was actually sponsored by ubiquitous chain of franchise outposts that turns out fast Mexican food, with some items less than a dollar. We can surmise, even if we have never been surrounded by its plastic decor that the dining experience offered here could not compete with the labor of love the restaurant just sponsored. At first, I thought their ad buy was undertaken with about as much thought as goes into squirting sour cream into their burrito. I reconsidered.
The Kitchen showcased an ideal. This is the Mexican you could create in eight minutes IF you had the experience and passion of this guest chef IF you cared enough. Stoking that desire is to the advantage of the chain restaurant, even if they can't fulfill it in every detail. They can supply good enough for inexpensive enough.
I think a similar utility is at work when an overmatched enemy of our souls decides whether or not to snatch the seed of God's Word from our hearts. He can. See Matthew 13:19. This is a risky play for temporary advantage, however. Christ said in Matthew 24:35 that the Word will remain forever. Dull humans may even begin to notice when the Word that once warmed us is missing and ask for the Holy Spirit's help in remembering it in keeping with John 14:26. The last thing Satan wants to do is to help us be hungrier for the Bible.
Thus we arrive at Satan settling for the fast food strategy. As the Christian looks longingly at the biblical ideal so carefully crafted over time by the Master Chef, hunger for the holy deepens in us. Just as the chef on The Kitchen shows us his effort inside and out, our God is that thorough, that patient, and that certain of the final result toward which He is working. As we begin to hunger for virtue but dread discipleship as time-consuming and likely to reveal our weaknesses and willfulness, then comes the timely offer of the fast food version of virtue. Settle for this, offers the lust of the eyes. It's good enough. It looks superficially similar. Settle for this, offers the lust of the flesh. It won't require waiting. Settle for this, offers the pride of life. You can order it on your terms.
The Master Chef keeps working, even so. More frustrating for the enemy and encouraging for us, He continues to display His glory as Great Physician, Perfect Parent, Designer and Sustainer of the Heavens. Everywhere we look, even while munching on synthetic substitutes and regretting it, God continues to show us the difference between His long-term, undeterred plan for us, and anything we could grasp impulsively for ourselves. One day, with all Eternity as the vastest of canvases upon which to display His character, fast food, and its soul equivalent will be put out of business for good.
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