Chick-Fil-A and the Third Commandment

There’s a buzz about town in the politically conservative and Christian communities.  Manhattan is finally getting a “real” Chick-Fil-A, apparently the one in the K-State Student Union doesn’t count.  But anyway, it’s pretty exciting for a lot of people.  Honestly, I think they’re pretty regular chicken sandwiches myself.

Meanwhile, our ministry staff has been leading us through a study on the 10 Commandments this summer.  And, trust me, this isn’t a typical sleepy, solemn series.  It’s been step-on-your-toes fantastic.  If you want to listen to the sermons you can hear them here.  Two weeks ago we were on Commandment Number 3:  “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” - Exodus 20:7  I have to admit, when the sermon began I thought the minister was going too easy on the subject.  Not sure what I was thinking, because he tactfully never “goes easy” on anything God spells out clearly, and if I’d just been patient in my thinking I would have heard I had nothing to worry about.  As listeners we were reminded of the reasons God’s name is commonly misused:  insults, irritations, indulgences, intimidation, impression, and on impulse.  It’s beyond saying, “Oh, my God.” in the wrong context.  Carelessly throwing out God’s name to impress others is just as much a misuse.

Back to Chick-Fil-A.  Chick-Fil-A is known as a Christian owned chain.  They readily support what would be “conservative” causes and groups and in turn the conservatives support them.  My fellow Christians love to tout their Chick-Fil-A cups.  I’m not offended by any of this and I say go for it!  However, being in the construction industry, we personally know some of the subcontractors working on the new Chick-Fil-A restaurant in Manhattan.  While they’re great guys, to my knowledge, none of them are church-goin’ people.  Unfortunately, they have been treated with arrogance and condescension by the Chick-Fil-A “higher ups” throughout this project.  This does not help to represent Jesus in a positive inviting way to all those working on the job.

By labeling themselves as a Christian owed business Chick-Fil-A takes on a huge responsibility.  No one is perfect; we all misrepresent our faith by our actions and words – sometimes accidentally and sometimes with full understanding.  But there must be a focus on sincerity and consistency.  Paul reminds us, “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”  (Colossians 3:17)  For whatever reason, symbols of faith evoke emotion like no other.  If someone cuts you off in traffic with a fish symbol stuck to their bumper you think it’s un-Christian.  If the guy at Walmart with a church softball team t-shirt lets out a string of four letter words it doesn’t add up.

My question since the lesson two weeks ago is if we do more harm than good when we shout the word Christian.  I remember interviewing for a job in college and being told, “we’re a Christian business but we don’t shout it”, and thinking that didn’t make sense.  Now I understand more.  Being a Christian is a big responsibility.  Sometimes I wonder if God would rather we live our lives so as to emit the resulting fruit of the Spirit living within us instead of printing it on our bumper stickers and t-shirts.  Perhaps that would speak more to those we desire to influence.

How do you tithe without an income?

                In January our ministry staff challenged the church with considering pledging to tithe for 90 days.  No challenge for us.  We’ve been tithing for basically our entire marriage.  We’ve seen over and over how God has taken care of us.  Through the ups and downs of small business ownership we have always had every need met.
                However, this challenge was different for our family.  Just six weeks before this challenge Ray ended his partnership with Schultz Construction, and therefore no more regular paychecks.  The same week as the challenge I ended my time at Schultz Construction.  Through this lesson series I was thinking, “how do you tithe, when you have no income?”  “what if someone is keeping track on a list a notices our checks have stopped?”.  So each week I just listened; when I felt led to write a check, I did.  When we had money in our account I wrote a check.  When there wasn’t, I didn’t.  And I trusted God would take care of us in the same manner as He had in the past.
                And He did.  As I look back on the past six months of atypical tithing I see His timing over and over.  My wonderfully frugal husband’s leadership set us up for living six months without a paycheck.  This allowed us to flat-out buy the truck he needed. Ray’s parents loaned us money to buy a trailer.  My substitute teaching jobs usually covered our monthly grocery bill.  Our federal tax refund came back at very un-government-like speed.  When I was preparing to end our monthly support of the Croatia church, and cancel dentist appointments because of no insurance, my parents gave us money as a gift, because they had helped my brother in the same way 7 years ago.  My sister-in-law paid me ahead of time for taking care of her girls in June. We made the hard decision to sell our 40 acres to eliminate debt – it sold in 36 hours.  One construction client paid us an extra $50 for “fuel cost”.  My mom arrived at our house one Saturday with groceries – gluten free food (which is extra expensive), paper products (because she knew I was stressed out about feeding our Friday night bible study), laundry detergent, etc.  And, in a couple instances I “found” money I forgot we had.  Over and over God slipped these blessings into our lives.
                Today, six months after that Sunday, the light seems to have appeared at the end of the tunnel – and right now we think it’s growing.  We continue to see God supplying us with jobs.  Those three years of a near six-figure combined income sure was nice, but today I’m thankful for the nature of Ray’s job.  While we have several jobs lined up in the near future, there is no guarantee beyond. We have to fully trust God will give us what we need.  If we had a typical regular paycheck I think I would easily become complacent with His care for us.  This way, I have to rely on Him because there is no other choice.
                So whether you were the ones physically helping us, the ones challenging us to tithe, the ones who have repeatedly encouraged us through the job transitions, the ones praying for our family….we are grateful beyond what we can express.