I Never Eat There

I ate at McDonalds for lunch today.  I proudly marched right in and I didn’t even have a kid with me.  I even liked the food.

There.  I’ve said it.  What almost no one else will admit.  Ask just about anybody about McDonalds and they will get this high-brow look on their face as they tip their head ever so slightly back, looking down their nose at you.  “McDonalds?  Uuggh!  We hardly ever go there unless the kids insist.”  It’s what they say, but I don’t think it’s what they do.  If it were, McDonalds would be a lot less busy at lunch, and nearly everybody there would be under the age of 10.

At lunch today I saw kids and parents, single people, business people, people in ties, people in uniforms, hippies, yuppies, red necks and high brows. They were all there, but none of them like McDonalds.  If you ask them, none of them eat there.

So what makes people this way?  Why do we all refuse to admit that we actually like to eat at McDonalds on occasion?  I think I know.  It’s pride.  We think people will think less of us if they know we indulge in a Big Mac, so we fall victim to an issue that got the Pharisees in so much trouble over 2000 years ago.  A pet sin that grew so ugly it demanded Jesus’ death rather than admit its own existence.  The sin that tries to hide all others.

That site where they serve all those x-rated pictures?  Uuggh!  I never go there!  Juicy gossip?  Are you kidding me?  That’s so unhealthy!  I would never consume that!  Dishonesty?  Never.  We meet our Christian friends at church then head to lunch for some holy fellowship.  We pass right by the busy McDonalds, but nobody even suggests we go there.  Why would we?  Nobody eats at McDonalds.

“Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: `I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else. For I don’t cheat, I don’t sin, and I don’t commit adultery. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, `O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
     – Luke 18:10-14 NLT