Salad bars are a great addition to any restaurant. They have changed the dining experience altogether. You can go to a nice "sit down" restaurant and still enjoy a variety of items, eat light if you want and also choose to go "healthy". Of course if you want to forget all of that there is the wonder of a Chinese Buffet!
The great thing about a salad bar is that it can teach us a lot when relating it to our spiritual journey with Jesus. Think about it; salad bars offer the choice of whatever you want, the speed of a quick meal and convenience.
This brings me to my point about contemporary Christianity in America. There have been pockets of people, teachers, televangelist personalities etc. that have created a culture of Christianity that doesn't at all resemble the teachings of Jesus. We have been taught that God is there for us to get whatever we want, to have our prayers answered yesterday and all the while we don't have to alter our lifestyle one bit. Pick a teaching, be it tithing, serving, prayer, attending church, sacrificial living, sacrificial giving, putting others first etc. It's just not popular to teach what Jesus taught anymore.
Jesus' life and teachings embodied self-sacrifice. Remember, he DIDN'T WANT to go to the cross but he said to the Father, "Not my will but yours be done." Jesus didn't always rush to get things done for people when they wanted it. Remember his friend Lazarus? He let him die before he got to him. His sisters weren't impressed with that. And then there's the whole thought of Jesus the omnipresent, omnipotent Son of God for the first time ever, being confined to a physical body, being imprisoned by time and space. He died on a cross, the innocent for the guilty. He definitely altered his lifestyle a bit.
So go ahead and enjoy that salad bar! Pick and choose your favorites. Put on your plate whatever you want and leave off your plate what you will. But don't try to live your Christian life that way. I think Jesus would send us all back for a second trip.
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