As many of you probably can guess, I am into physical fitness.  Well, at least cycling.  Bowflex when I can’t cycle.  I also try to eat right.  I have my daily helping of ice cream.    Seriously, eating right is just as important, in many cases, as exercising.  A person who exercises by cycling, running, lifting weights, doing Zumba, Intensity (or whatever the craze is), or any other type of activity, still needs to eat right. It seems to be an effort in futility to exercise your “buns off” and go for them washboard abs only to have a fat and calorie-laden eating regimen.  When my metabolism was a lot faster, I could just about eat anything I wanted and exercise would take the pounds off fairly quickly.

NOT. ANY. MORE.  and because of that it is so much more important that my diet be healthy.   But have you ever tasted some of the supposed good food?  It tastes like twigs and branches and leaves.  Some of the substitutes don’t melt like the real thing.  Some of them taste like plastic.   There are some “healthy snack bars” I will not touch with a 10 foot pole.  One word summarizes the “experience”:  CHOKE!

Bob Goff in Love Does put it this way:

I used to think religion tasted horrible, but now I know I was just eating the fake stuff.

He tells a ragingly hilarious story about eating Crisco lard when he thought was eating cream cheese.  Talk about…well…I won’t mention it here.  One of the things he kept telling himself was “if I eat a little bit more it will taste better.”  WRONG!  How do you improve on Crisco lard tasting better?

HOW DO YOU IMPROVE ON RELIGION TASTING ANY BETTER?   HOW CAN YOU MAKE IT MORE PALATABLE?

You can’t.  No way no how.   But we sure try.  We have religious teachers (notice the lack of the word pastor) who serve us fake food.  They stuff it down our throat and tell us, “Here.  Eat more.  The more you eat, the better you will feel.”  Two words: GAG NASTY!   No amount of toppings or dressing something up can make religion taste any better.

The thing is Jesus never talked about religion. Except in derision.  In opposition to the religious leaders.  He despised what they were serving up.  What He was serving was to give them life…abundant life (John 10:10).  But the religious leaders?  Their brand was nothing more than a yoke, a burden around the neck.  We have those same kind of people today.  Yelling. Screaming.  Pushing. Shoving. Force-feeding.  Guilt-inducing.  (and those are just for starters).  Men of God speaking for God?  They seem to think so.  But I tend to think they wear cloaks and phylacteries around their forehead and wrist.  I certainly can’t and won’t call them pastors (shepherds).

What are your thoughts?  I’d like to hear them and any experience you may have with these fake shepherds with their fake message.  This is part of my ongoing series on Love Does by Bob Goff.  You can read others in the series here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.