Krispy Kreme Cheeseburgers and Deep-Fried Oreos

It's that time of year again. The air is crisp and cool, the skies are clear and blue, and it's time for the State Fair! Each year vendors creatively invent some new combination of food so tasty and yet so incredibly UN-healthy, it should be illegal. This year's concoction - The Krispy Kreme Cheeseburger. Imagine a Hardee's humongous burger - served on a Krispy Kreme donut instead of a bun. Estimated calories = more than the daily recommended amount for a teenage jock for a week!

Do you ever wonder why we do this? We know what is best for us, what is healthy and good for our bodies - and yet we make a conscious choice not only to avoid those things, but to indulge in things that we know are bad for us. We even seek after new and creative ways to hurt ourselves - new recreational drugs, new sports with even more risk, new financial schemes likely to ruin us.

I read recently the tragic story of two students at NC State University who were found dead on the fire escape outside their apartment. According to news reports, they died from taking a type of plant food that is the latest 'craze' among young people looking to get high. Last year, it was a young man who hung himself playing a 'game' designed to make him light-headed by cutting off his oxygen. Almost weekly there are stories of young people dying in car accidents caused by trying to get too close to the edge - drinking and driving, racing their friends, speeding on winding country roads.

In First Corinthians 6, Paul tells us, "Everything is permissible for me - but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible for me - but I will not be mastered by anything." We have amazing freedom in Christ; we are not bound by the law. Our salvation is not about keeping the law, fortunately, because we human beings have demonstrated quite well that we are not capable of keeping God's standards of holiness. No, our salvation is based in trusting Christ's sacrifice on our behalf and that alone.

Still, we must not let our freedom lead to self-destruction. God has given us a brain and the intellect to identify likely consequences for behavior and we should exercise that ability, recognize the road-signs and turn back before it's too late. Before we've ruined our health, crashed our car, or destroyed our credit. Recent studies indicate that this ability to predict the consequences of our actions and make rational decisions in order to avoid those consequences may not develop in our brains until age twenty-five. I would argue that in some of us it may be much later!

I'm not saying you can't enjoy a Krispy Kreme Cheeseburger at the fair or try bungee-jumping. Just think about the end result of a life spent seeking the next greatest thrill. Think about the consequences and what you'll have to show for it. And choose what is beneficial. Do not allow yourself to be mastered by the quest for one more thrill.

Break out the Windex and Magnify the Lord!

If you've ever been on a trip to a scenic spot with children, you know that they will beg and plead to have a few coins to drop into the panoramic telescope that allows them to see the view close up. They love to press their faces against the hot metal and peer into the distance, usually reaching a hand around as if they will now be able to touch the mountain that is miles away. The viewer magnifies the distant scene making it appear as close as their fingertips.

We often use the expression, "magnify the Lord." We may hear it in church or read it in Scripture, but have you ever stopped to consider the meaning?

According to Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, magnify means the following:

• 1 a : extol, laud b : to cause to be held in greater esteem or respect
• 2 a : to increase in significance : intensify b : exaggerate
• 3 : to enlarge in fact or in appearance
• intransitive verb: to have the power of causing objects to appear larger than they are

The first definition, to extol or laud, is certainly our intent in the phrase, "magnify the Lord," but can we 'increase in significance" or "enlarge in fact or in appearance" when it comes to the Lord? Clearly there is nothing we can contribute that will increase who God is, nothing we can add to His divinity, power, or authority.

However, we can use these definitions to think about our worship and our lives in a new way. Consider how telescopes magnify our view of the stars. The stars are much bigger than the telescope, or even our planet - some are much larger than our sun! However, we can use a tiny telescope to see the immense star more clearly.

If we apply this definition to our efforts to magnify the Lord, we can be the tool through which others may see God more clearly. Through which they might sense His nearness and learn about His attributes.

Lenses like those in a telescope only work properly when they are clean. I've tried in vain to teach this concept to my nine-year-old who wears glasses. Inevitably, the lenses are covered with grimy fingerprints through which he struggles to see. No matter how many times I show him how to carefully clean the glasses so that he can see more clearly, they always seem to get dirty again.

We can't 'magnify the Lord' to those around us unless our lives are clean. I'm not talking perfection - because none of us are there! But just as Matthew needs to regularly examine his glasses for smudges and then take the necessary steps to clean them, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to take a good look at our lives, show us the smudges and then get to work on cleaning them up! Let's face it, if our lives tell a story that is contrary to our words, then no one is going to be able to see Jesus for all the grime.

When we moved into our current home, we had a sliding glass door for the first time. Our little dog, Zero, had never seen one before. The first several times I let him out for a walk, he came running back and slammed into the glass. I have to admit, we all enjoyed a good laugh and the little guy eventually learned his lesson. He still hesitates a moment and gives me an accusing glance before stepping through the open door.

It's a curious feature of glass - the cleaner it is, the harder it is to see the glass itself.

If we want to magnify the Lord, we need for the attention to be on Him and not on us. We should be transparent - simply a glass through which others can see Jesus. Being transparent means that life is not about me. It's not about my wants, my opinion or my plans. It is all about Jesus. When we make our lives all about Jesus, and allow others to see that in our lives, we bring Jesus within arms reach of them.

And like a little child on the mountaintop, they will want to reach out and take hold of the beauty before them.