How Many Cows?

When people were just beginning in world history, they noticed that the sun, moon, stars, and everything else just magically kept on doing their thing. They quickly surmised that there must be some Great Being that keeps everything going along smoothly. This Great Being brought rain when it was needed so that stuff could grow that people could eat. This Great Being was very nice to do such things.

But then one day it stopped raining. More days passed – no rain.

The people quickly determined that the Great Being must not be happy, and that was why the rain stopped. They needed to bring happiness to the Great Being, and then, perhaps, the rain would start pouring.

So some sang songs. Some danced. Some sang and danced at the same time. Nothing seemed to make the Great Being happy enough to send rain.

Then humanity’s best backyard BBQ’er had a new thought – perhaps what would make this Great Being happy is the smell of a great hamburger. He’d seen people get happier countless times when the smoke from his grill let everyone know a burger was on its way.

So he killed a cow.

And then he grilled it up.

The smoke filled the air – everybody’s mouth was watering (except the Seventh Day Adventists and other vegetarians, who were vomiting).

The next day – rain!

An important lesson was learned – when the Great Being is unhappy, kill and grill some cows.

As time went forward, the rain stopped for longer periods. More and more cows were required. At certain ugly points in history, people even offered their own offspring to appease the Great Being. It seemed to work often enough that people kept doing it. They secretly wondered, how many cows does it take to make the Great Being happy?

The Great Being – God – never asked for the BBQ. In fact, God tried to intervene several times to let people know that it really wasn’t necessary to kill cows for him. That the point was to know God and be led by God in order to get the most out of this gift called life – a Way that allowed everybody in on the good stuff. God called a guy named Abraham (c. 2000 BCE) to get this message across. It lasted awhile, but then people slipped back into the cow mentality.

Fast-forward to 6 BCE, and we find a child being born who would later be heralded as both God and Man come to earth – the Messiah, the Christ. Jesus was his name. He spent his life letting people know about God’s heart of hearts – and that it had nothing to do with killing and grilling cows! To settle the whole sacrifice-to-earn-God’s-grace issue, this Jesus offered himself up – the very best of humanity, the most complete sacrifice – and died on a cross. After being dead for three days, he came back to life to assure humanity that he was who he said he was, and that his sacrifice covered everybody. Forever.

So, if you ever wonder about how many cows it takes to make God happy, the answer is: zero.
If you ever wonder about what you have to do to get God off your back, or to get God to forgive you, or to buy God off so you can live beyond the grave, the answer is simple and difficult: you can do nothing. No amount of cows our other forms of sacrifice will make God love you more than he already does. He loves you completely, unconditionally, forever.

So, in light of the love God has for you, and the Way of life God invites you to live, may you be free from a distorted view of God-as-Angry-Beast, and may you open yourself up to the world of saying yes to his Spirit of Life. May you understand the depths of meaning carried by Jesus on the cross, and may you begin living – now and forever – because of it.

MP3 Link: http://www.onlinefilefolder.com/index.php?action=getshare&type=0&user_num=43737&share_id=230826&hash=c0d4bb1010f6d56ee7c6539e257e0623