The God Vending Machine

You pop a dollar in, push a button or two and what you requested falls from a shelf and drops to where you are to retrieve it from a little swinging door. A vending machine. Easy and quick, unless it is out of order. :)

I've been thinking again, don't get scared! I've been thinking about God and what we ask of Him. It's like I mentioned in "Servants of God," we tend to request a lot. But what is worse than that is that when we come to ask we are full of yucky sin. As I listen to Christian music, speakers and believers of Christ, I hear all that we want from God and then in the same breath that they're going to go watch a movie that is far from godly. I see how we make fun of our mistakes to say that "God will forgive me, He loves me no matter what!" He does! But He is a righteous God and He hates sin. He can use bad for good, but He wants good from us!

I hear people who say, "I just keep sinning, but God keeps forgiving!" But if we love God, then why are we willing to hurt Him by continuing to sin.

I've noticed that we run up to God, like we do a vending machine and we say, "Okay, God I love you so much and I really want this and I need it now. So how much do I owe you? No more than a dollar I hope!"  I know this is tough, but it bothers me and I want to know your thoughts too! Why is it that we joke about our sins, continue watching, saying and doing what we want and yet expect this loving God to give us what we want? There is a confused perception of God among many Christians. God is loving and kind, but He is also jealous and righteous. He is the God that made the universe, swept back the Red Sea, knocked down the walls of Jericho, killed 185,000 Assyrians, and sent His son to die upon a dirty cross. He is worth more than our half-hearted prayers, and excuses for our sins. I can't imagine how tired He gets of hearing our requests when our hearts are so far from Him. I believe many don't hear from God because He can't talk to them through their walls of sins. God is "just" and He can't ignore sin. But when a murder kills someone, don't we want justice? God sees all sin as equal and He must have justice. He wants to hear our requests, but He wants to sit down to a "meal" with Him where we cleanse our hearts and conversate rather than run up to a vending-machine asking for something quick.

God is so much greater than we seem to understand. In the Old Testament the name of God was not allowed to be said by anyone other than the Priests. Now we throw around the word forgetting how sacred His name really is. He wants our fellowship, but He doesn't want to be seprate from the rest of our lives. When we get home from church, He doesn't want us to forget about Him. Imagine if we spent our whole lives eating junk out of vending machines? A bag of Lays here, a Chips Ahoy there, and soft drinks all the time. We would be sick and unhealthy. God wants us to sit down to a healthy meal, where our spiritual bodies are reguvinated through His presence. He alone can fill our souls with what is good.

I know this blog post has been a lot like "Servants of God," but this is what God put on my heart to say: God is worth more than what we give Him. He is worth more than excuses about why we do this or that. James 4:17 says, "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins." God is God and He deserves so much more than we could ever give, but lets try to give Him all we can, not just in praise but through our lives.