Soft drinks, soda pop, “coke” – what about the original, Coca-Cola?

Strong enough to eliminate battery corrosion.

It used to contain cocaine.

Early ads claimed that it could cure headaches and chase away depression. Nowadays when someone says, “I’d like a coke”, they might mean any carbonated sugary drink. Like “Xerox this for me please”. What is the truth in the branding and advertising? Is Coca-Cola still “the real thing”?

My mother was very wise. She did not permit my brother and I to chew gum, and Sprite or 7-Up was an extremely rare allowance. For that reason, we had perfect teeth and clean bills of health from the dentists. Zero cavities for either of us. No root canals or any of the other dental nightmares. Looking back, I think there was some hidden theology in my mother’s parenting choices. Well, my dad too. They knew that Coca-Cola and other vices were not “the real thing.” We did not buy into (pun intended) the messaging that promised happiness and a good life. It sounds cliché’ and dated, but they raised us right back then. My brother and I (me especially) would make bone-headed choices in life. Once I reached the end of the cavity-prone years at 15, I would sneak gum and drink more soda when I wasn’t around the ‘rents. Thanks to the grounding I had, those were just fleeting moments of forbidden fruit. Mom is, and always will be, right.

The “real thing” is the life that is freely offered us in Christ Jesus. No tricks, no gimmicks, no misleading or false branding or advertising. Instead of the hedonistic, worldly pleasures that intoxicate and addict, the JOYful life is found in Christian community. It is a sweetness not tainted by saccharine or other chemicals. The real thing does have the power to clean, to knock the rust off our corroded souls. It fills and satisfies like nothing else can. So, drink deeply from the well of life. Let the real thing, the unconditional love, flow through you with refreshment.

Pastor Art