It was 1965, I was 7 years old when Burger King opened its 8th restaurant, and it was in my town. It was a pretty big deal. I mean, who ever heard of a Whopper? Better yet, who ever heard of buying a ready made hamburger? But as fate would have it, on the biggest event on my social calendar, I got sick. I don’t mean a little sick. I was in the bed, high fever sick. Of course no one knew my big plans to get a store bought hamburger so when my mom asked me what I wanted for supper, I told her a Whopper. She said, “We would grill hamburgers for dinner.” I told her that I didn’t want a homemade one, I wanted a Whopper! You need to know that my family rarely if ever ate out. Maybe once or twice a year. My mom was not going to spend her .37 cents on a store-bought hamburger, even if it did have lettuce, tomatoes, onions pickles and cheese.
Weeks, later, we did go. I remember like it was yesterday. We walked up to an outside window to order. The greatest thing was watching your burger cook as it moved down the conveyer belt. Their advertisement was that it would be made in 60 seconds or your burger was free. My brother and I would walk down the sidewalk following our Whopper as it cooked. The whole time we were counting down from 60 hoping to get that free burger. Burger King always won.
In 1974 they came out with, a new slogan. I mean how could Whopper get better? Now we could, “have it your way”. I could tell them, “hold the pickle, hold the lettuce”
A lot of us want a relationship with God – the Burger King way. Hold the quiet time and hold the family devotions. Hold the tithe and hold the Sabbath. All of us know what God requires of us. It is not a guessing game. If we would do as we know God would have us to do, our lives and families would be so much better. We could change the world for Him.
The Scriptures say that God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is a Holy and just God. He deeply desires that we have a relationship with Him. He is loving and kind, yet He demands obedience and reverence.
Pastor Josh recently used a sermon illustration when he interviewed University of Georgia students. He asked. “If you could know God personally, would you?” Most all of them said yes. But when they were presented with the Gospel, they were not really all that interested. They wanted it “their way.” They wanted their version of God.
God is not our Whopper. We cannot have Him our way. We can only have Him, His way.
What are some things that are blocking our relationship with God? We already know what they are. He has laid it on our hearts already. What are some things that we need to start doing to draw closer to Him? We all have time to spend with Him, it’s just a matter of priorities. God is not our Whopper. We cannot have Him our way. We can only have Him, His way.
This week, let’s make a list of 3 things we can do that will improve our relationship with Him, and then put that into practice.
Pastor Greg