The Salivation Army

If you didn't catch it, there is an extra 'I' in the title of this post. As I was shaving this morning, I was thinking. Shaving doesn't require a lot of brain power, in case you didn't know. I was thinking about how we as Christians have to take responsibility for ourselves, and do what we say we will do. That is worship God by blessing Him and blessing others.

I reasoned that that seemed to be a lot like Operant Conditioning . . . the one where the rat presses the button to get food (every now and then, you see, I break back into psychology mode). You have have to do something to get something. Of course I realize that I don't have to do good works to be saved, but as I progress through my maturity I will naturally do good works.

Too often we're like a bunch of Pavlovian Dogs, conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell. Pavlov was an old pioneer in the field of psychology (though he wasn't a psychologist himself). The essence of what he found out was this:

1. Dogs salivate when you put food in front of them.
2. Dogs salivate when you ring a bell and put food in front of them.
3. If you keep ringing a bell, before you give them food, pretty soon they'll salivate at the sound of the bell, without ever seeing the food.
   

I see that our church is like that. Christians all need God. We feast on worshipping God. According to Matthew our food should be the same as Jesus' food, which was to "do the will of the Father". The problem that I see is we've stopped short of the food. It may be that our 'bell' is the band, or the worship team, or a soloist, or the message, or the ritual of getting up, getting dressed, and getting to church. But it seems as though all we need is the bell and not the food. Our mind 'hears' our 'bell' and thinks, "SOUPS ON!"

But do we ever eat? Do we ever feast on God? Or do we hear the bell and think thats all we need? It's funny that the only thing that could ever separate us from the love of God is our own choice. Don't waste your saliva on a stinking bell!

FEAST!