False Advertising
January 2007
Colossians 3:4 - Christ . . . who is our life
My love affair with sweet tea began in the spring of 2006. All of a sudden I had a distaste for the pseudo "sweet" teas that needed flavoring with the little pink and white sugar packets on the table. I needed the good stuff made by the grandmothers from the region of our country affectionately known as "The South." This kind of tea needs no extra assistance once in a tall ice-filled glass. Its sweetness has been added during the cooking process. This is real sweet tea. Seemingly over night, I was overwhelmed with a desire to drink this southern delicacy with every meal. I kept it in my refrigerator and even chose restaurants based on the array of their drink offerings. As the summer months began and the hot Texas weather descended, my desire for the cool sweetness of tea grew.
You can only imagine my delight to see a McDonalds advertisement introducing the newest addition to their updated summer menu-sweet tea. Now, I could easily and readily have my favorite beverage at the drop of a hat. My first opportunity to try the new menu item came on a road trip my husband and I took to Oklahoma. We drove up to the drive thru window at the golden arches just outside of downtown Tulsa and placed our orders. When asked what drinks we would like with our meal, I couldn’t say, "sweet tea, please," fast enough. I was shocked to hear the attendant reply through the old gurgly speaker, "We don’t offer that drink here." I couldn’t believe it. My taste buds now set for the taste of tea recoiled at the thought of gulping down a harsh soda. Trying not to sound too desperate, I explained the commercial I had seen. The young woman apologized and responded that the sweet tea was a special summer promotion and was only being offered in select locations throughout the country. Although prominently promoted, only specific restaurants would carry the product and make good on the offer. I disappointedly settled for one of their alternatives.
American culture has made us savvy consumers. We have lofty expectations and anticipate receiving exactly what we have been told we will get. We are disappointed and often upset to later find that the result we were looking forward too only comes when there are particular strings attached. We desire people and products that are true to their word at all times-not merely when it is convenient.
A far greater disappointment comes not when companies fall short of our expectations but when people do. The same uneasiness when we don’t get what we expect is the same sentiment we infer on others when our lives promote one thing while producing another. In an ever-increasing Christian pop culture popularized by witty bumper stickers, clothing and accessories, conferences and strategic business marketing we have often fallen prey to advertising a lifestyle without cashing in on the promises made. The stranger whose thirst has become insatiable and unsatisfied by the things of this world has come looking for the truth, life, and peace that we have promised can quench their inner dryness. They come to us because our advertisements say that we are the ones with the answer, but they often leave to try other alternatives when they hear, ". . . only offered at selected locations." The wide-eyed stares of confusions on the faces of people as they view the hypocritical lifestyle of the evangelical Christian has become commonplace. We promote peace but live in fear. We advertise hope but live in hopelessness. We encourage morality but tolerate and often secretly indulge in the immoral fabric of our society. We have compartmentalized God into one part of our lives and determined to live for self in the others. But Christ is not supposed to be a part of our life. He is our life through and through (Col 3:4).
When Jesus taught the disciples about their place in history He said, "You are the salt of the earth"(Matthew 5:13). Salt cannot be flavorless one day and then full of flavor the next. Inherent in the organic fiber of its makeup is the flavor. Whenever you encounter a grain of salt, you have no choice but to also encounter it’s flavoring. The two cannot exist independently of each other. When tasting salt, it will not disappoint. It offers exactly what it has advertised. Jesus was telling the men that would change the course of history that their relationship with Him was not for "select locations only." He wanted them to be salty through and through. In order for their ministry to be effective, the sermons they preached in the temple and the salvation they advertised among the people needed to be evident, on display, and ready to extend to anyone who came by looking for thirst quenching living water. No matter where they were going and no matter what they were doing, they had to extend His flavor. Jesus did it at a wedding in Cana, at a well in Samaria, when thousands were hungry on a mountainside in Tiberias, to a woman in need of healing while a crowd pressed in around Him, and in the wee hours of the morning when a Pharisee named Nicodemus came looking for answers. And He was still doing it while He hung on a cross offering forgiveness to those who tortured Him and hope to the thief dying next to Him.
Friend, the harvest is plentiful-ripe for harvest. Many are coming thirsty and in need of what we have been advertising. Don’t just talk about it and wear it and then disappoint when the rubber meets the road. By the Spirit’s power within you. . .Live it. Offer it. Anytime. Anyplace. Always.
|
