Learning Faith at the Golden Arches.

I decided to get up at 4:30 each weekday morning so I can write my blog before work and I am now at my local McDonald’s restaurant with my usual Sausage McMuffin and unsweetened tea with Splenda.  The one thing about McDonald’s is consistency.  Ray Kroc bought the McDonald brothers’ business years ago and began the concept of franchising the name, products, and the famous “Golden Arches” to people who wanted into the restaurant business.  The guarded or proprietary secrets of the corporation are known to only a few people but they guarantee the Sausage McMuffin I am enjoying now will be exactly like one I would eat in Germany.  On my tray is a picture of the Big Mac and I know the sandwich’s “two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun” will taste the same in the over 1,000+ stores worldwide.  The success of McDonald’s is people can rely upon this consistency over and over again. 

 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  Hebrews 11:1

Jesus used parables of everyday occurrences to teach people a lesson.  Now, far be it from me to think this blog is inspired and inerrant (just look at my punctuation and typos for proof) but people all over the world have a sort of “faith” McDonald’s will live up to its reputation of consistency and cleanliness.  It was Kroc who coined the phrase, “A time to lean is a time to clean.” 

 Faith is called hypostasis which literally means “that which stands under” and is the basis for the Christian life. (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary Hebrews, Leon Morris p 112) Another word Morris exposes is the word, elenchus--a test or cross-examination in a legal sense.  Christians have faith as a basis or platform by which they stand and this platform is also the way we examine all those things we do not see.  I believe in God (faith) and this same faith helps me to develop a trust in those things of God which I cannot see.  It is not whimsy or a passing fancy for faith is built by the consistency of God.  The sun rose this morning and will continue to do so till he ends it.  Even if it is overcast I know by the consistency of the sun rising for my fifty-five years.  By watching the visible things of this world I can see the qualities of an unseen God.  I cannot see agape love, but I can see its effects.  God sent his son.  I cannot see his justice or righteousness but by faith I can see it in the requirement of the Cross. 

As Kroc spread his message of consistency of product and would remove franchisees who tinkered with his products, he built an empire that continues after his death.  My senses of taste and smell will diminish as I age, but my faith will increase because by the same faith I become more and more certain of what I do not see.