Most television commercials are pretty boring, but once in a while an entertaining one comes along. In one of my favorites, which you may have seen (it can be found on YouTube), a groundskeeper is painting the end zone of a professional football stadium. He stands up, looks at his handiwork, and in shocked disbelief says, “Kansas City Chefs?” In case you’re not a football fan, very few behemoth football players would like playing on a team called the “Chefs”, and the name of the Kansas City team is the “Chiefs”. The groundskeeper then utters one of the best expletives of all time, “Great Googly Moogly.” In case you think this could only happen in a commercial, students at a mid-western university recently looked up at their newly painted water tower only to find that they were now attending “Wichita Staty University.”

The problem is that by overly concentrating on details and failing to look at the big picture, we can easily make errors; ironically those errors are often in the details. Sometimes the details even prevent us from addressing bigger issues. As that great philosopher Pogo said, “It’s hard to drain the swamp when you’re up to your waist in alligators.”

In our religious life it is also easy to focus on little details instead of enjoying the wonder of God’s grace. For example, the differences between denominations are often little details (some now forgotten) that hinder the bigger New Testament message. The same can happen to us in our personal religious lives, and it can lead to hypocrisy. Jesus pointed this out in Matthew 23:24 when he said, “You strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.” He was speaking to the Pharisees who paid tithes of mint, dill and cumin, but forgot to practice justice, mercy and faithfulness. Please look at the big picture and remember that God loves YOU unconditionally.

By the way, I think the commercial failed in its bigger purpose. Can you remember what was being sold? It was Snickers candy bars.

Jim