The Difference Between God and Tony Perkis

The past couple of days at work, I've been thinking about the greatest movie ever made: Heavyweights. This is an objective truth and has nothing to do with personal preferences.

The primary reason it's so phenomenal is because Ben Stiller plays Tony Perkis, an insane camp director who treats his chubby campers with utter contempt... It's a wonderful experience.

So how does this connect to God? Well, look at this quote from your dear old Uncle Tony:

I think a lot of times people live their lives hungry for the experience of God, the presence of God, the blessing of God, God's answers to questions, healing, provision, their dreams, you name it... They live their lives hungry and empty and feel like they just have to deal with it because of their own "lack of hustle". Lunch, for them, has been cancelled because they've failed to live up to God's standards... and in their own lofty opinion, if they just tried harder, then their God (Uncle Tony) might feed them. 

And the sad part about this is that Christians will often portray God this way. In an attempt to defend God (as if He needs it) as justified in not helping people who clearly need help, we blame people's lack of hustle (and our own) as the reason their lives are empty... Our wrong defense of God creates a wall that says, "To eat God's food, you have to try harder". You have to give. You have to serve. You have to love. You must approach perfect living with greater fervor. This could not be further from the Truth. Instead, God says this to you today:

"Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare."

The only stipulation is that you can't pay for it. It has to be free. Your labor cannot be used as payment for God's grace. So come eat without cost. Bring your requests to God as one who eats from the buffet of God freely! There is no wall. There is no hurdle. The experience of God is tangible and right next to you. There's nothing in the way. Go there. Breathe. Eat. Ask. Because with Jesus, lunch is never cancelled due to lack of hustle!

P.S. I've demonstrated an extreme lack of hustle with this blog over the past month... Lars would not be pleased... I would like to explain why: I started writing another book! It took me a little bit to figure out if I still wanted to keep the blog going while doing that... It's a lot of writing... but I know now I definitely will. Blog updates will probably be every other week until the book is finished. More details on the book will follow and I'll be sure to keep ya'll posted!! Thanks for reading!