Vending Machine Christianity

"He sees you when you're sleeping,
He knows when you're awake,
He knows when you've been bad or good
so be good for goodness sake!"
I find the above lyrics more than a little ironic, since of course kids aren't being good for goodness sake, they're being good so they can accumulate lots of loot!

When we relate this to religion, we may tend to think of televangelists- "Fund my 'I want a yacht fund' and God will bestow bountiful blessings upon ye!" Sometimes we try to negotiate with God, saying I'll do such and such, or I'll never do this or that again, in exchange for God doing something for us. Sometimes we find ourselves expecting something from God in return for following religious rules or practices. Oh, I think most of us could say why this is the wrong way to approach God, and could easily recognize such actions as vending machine Christianity, but I have the feeling that, extending this idea more fully, we may find ourselves a little more guilty than we recognized.

Why did we become Christians? Is it because we needed help becoming good people and knew it? Is it because we were overcome by the love that Jesus demonstrated to everyone he met? Is it because we heard about the golden streets and mansions and crowns of heaven? Was is because we were scared as hell of Hell? Suppose that one of the last two is true. Then, are we being "good for goodness sake"? Or are we being good to get something from God, namely heaven? Did we become Christians, did we follow religious practices, did we treat others kindly, give to the poor, all in the expectation of getting Heaven in the end? If at the end of life God said, "Sorry, heaven's not for you" would you respond saying, "But I was a Christian! I belonged to a church! I gave to and volunteered at charities!" Would we feel cheated? Would we instead say, "But Jesus I trusted you!" Now I'm not The Judge on such matters, but I'm guessing that anyone who would've said the latter would not have to say it.


The difference in those two responses is significant; it implies serious differences in why and how we became Christians and dictates who we become afterwards. When we become "Christians" we are transformed. If we became Christians to save ourselves from Hell, or to get some eternal reward then we are transformed not by the love of Jesus but by the love of self. We change the way we live because we ultimately want something for ourselves. The transforming agent is not Jesus' love but the spirit of profit seeking. When we see this, much of the behavior of the church becomes clearer. The existence of the judgmental attitudes and all the doctrinal disagreements makes sense. When our lives are shaped by love, then we pay attention to loving our fellow man under all circumstances. If our lives are being shaped by a desire to get to heaven, then we pay attention to whether our fellow man is doing the "right things" to get access to heaven. Do we care more about what a person does instead of who they are? Do we care about who's doing it right instead of how can we do it together?

We cannot downplay the promises Jesus has made us. They are great, amazing, beautiful. They give us hope, especially when life hands us excruciating pain. We need to know that Jesus has more plans in store for us. The idea of heaven can bring us hope and peace, but it cannot transform who we are into ones who belong to such a place. It may make us behave more like Jesus, but no amount of motivation can make us become more like Jesus. In the end, the only thing that can make us more like Jesus is Jesus.