Jesus Gave Up His Life and I Gave Up French Fries

“No, this is the kind of fasting I want: loosen the chains of injustice, lighten the burden of those who work for you, and set the oppressed free.” - Isaiah 58:6

I have often remarked, that if God had a nickname for me, it would probably be “Amoeba Boy.” Over the years, I have come to the realization that my intellect and wisdom, compared to God’s, is comparable to that of an amoeba’s with Albert Einstein (or Solomon, if we’re staying in the theological wheelhouse). Nowhere is this more obvious, than when I come up with a “great idea” to build God’s Kingdom, without spending a significant amount of time with my Lord, in prayer.

A few years ago, I decided to join a few of my ecumenical friends during the forty plus days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. I “gave up” a number of food items including white sugar and flour, and even french fries.

“French fries? For forty days? For Me? Wow!” This was the imaginary response I found myself hearing from my Lord. “Hey, Peter,” I imagined Him summoning “The Rock,” as the two watched me from their Heavenly box seats. “Looks like Win has another ‘great idea’: He’s giving up french fries,” I imagined my Lord patiently observing. “You’re going to let him fail again, aren’t you, Lord?” I envisioned Peter responding. 

And sure enough, once again, God allowed me to learn from my mistakes. Jesus gave up His life for me, and I gave up french fries for him. When I think about it, it sounds pretty silly. I got so caught up in giving up stuff. What I hadn’t given up, was self.

In Isaiah, God’s prophet delivered some pretty specific instructions regarding our actions and attitude, when it comes to personal sacrifice: Break the chains of injustice! Lighten the burden of others! Free the oppressed! We can’t do any of these when our focus is on ourselves. Jesus mirrored these admonitions when he scolded the self-righteous for turning their piety into a performance, and sacrifice into a show.

What are you giving up? More importantly, what are you giving Him? Jesus doesn’t need you to forego french fries, Frappuccino, or even Facebook, unless they own you more than Him. He needs you to forego your ego. He wants your faithful (mostly behind the scenes) service and Christian compassion. Not just for forty days a year, but for the other 325 as well. So let’s begin. 

Happy Easter and God Bless,

Arnold 'Win' Davis,

Executive Director of Missions