I got a message from God yesterday.  It must have been from Him.  It was posted on my Facebook page and said just as plainly as the nose on my face, “Message From God” right beside the bold print that said “God wants you to know…”.  One of my old friends seems to like the messages and posts them daily, so I get a message from God every day.

The only problem is, I’m pretty sure these messages never saw the inside of God’s Book.   They tend to be a lot like the horoscopes I used to read once in awhile in the newspaper.  All fluff and no pie.  Sorry.  It’s just that the image comes to mind of the “pie in the face” stunts that are popular today.  They’re not really pies; just a pie pan filled with whipped cream.  Give me a good old pie in the face like the “Three Stooges” or “Laurel and Hardy” used to throw.  That was pie!  At least, it looked like real pie to me.  But, as usual, I find I’m off following a rabbit trail.  What I’m trying to say is that if I’m to be hit in the face with a pie, make it pie.  Don’t use a bit of fake flavoring mixed with fake cream and tell me it was something it really wasn’t.

So, the message from God was really something repackaged to sound good, to tickle my ears and make me feel good.  It didn’t.  I’m looking for more.  And, it’s right there, in front of me.  It doesn’t always feel good, doesn’t always make me feel all gooey inside.  Sometimes, it even makes me sad or angry, but I know it’s the truth, the real pie…and I’ll take that over the saccharine-sweet fake fluff any day.

You know, I did get a message from God tonight.  I was watching Monday Night Football, well known for its lessons from our Creator.  Wes Welker took a pass from Tom Brady, his teammate on the New England Patriots, in a play starting on the one-foot line of the opposing team.  Mr. Welker ran the pass all the way to the other end-zone to score a touchdown.  At first, the announcers were excited, proclaiming that at ninety-nine yards, the play tied the record for the longest play from scrimmage in the books.  Before long though, they were actually a little cynical in their banter, realizing that it was a record held by countless teams, and one that could never be broken.  The laudable achievement was reduced to a footnote, nothing more than just another pass play, just another six points on the scoreboard.  Given the deprecatory way they were describing the play, one had to wonder if Mr. Welker, given the chance, would like to go back a few moments into the past and simply get fifteen or twenty yards on the play to shift his team out of the hole they were in.  Maybe that would have been more of an achievement.  It certainly didn’t seem as if he had accomplished anything earth-shattering with his ninety-nine yard streak down the field.

I’m pretty sure that the young man will gladly take the tie in the record books, regardless of how many other players he is sharing that honor with.  And, here’s where the message from God comes in.  Whatever the task, whatever anyone else has done with the same task in the past, we’re given the responsibility to do the job in front of us.  We don’t decide that because it won’t be the best or greatest, we’ll try something else.  We don’t desert our obligation because there is no glory to be gained in the achievement.  We stick to the chore and finish the job.

Okay, that was the fluff, my way of communicating the message.  Now here’s the pie, the real “message from God”:  Let us also lay aside every weight and the sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.  (Hebrews 12:1).  Years before God told His apostle to write that, he had another messenger who reminded us that “there is nothing new under the sun.”  Chances are, your task has been accomplished by someone before you, too.  Topping the record books isn’t the goal; finishing the job is.  Cross the goal line with your head held high, realizing that the glory was never intended to be ours anyway.

And seriously, if anyone is ever going to hit me in the face with a pie, could you make it coconut cream?  Turns out, just a little fluff makes the rest of the pie taste a little better sometimes.

“The truth is incontrovertible.  Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.”
“Winston Churchill~British orator and Prime Minister~1874-1965)