"Pumpkin-Spiced" Faith...

Fall time is here. Autumn is that time of year when everything shows up on the store shelves with pumpkin spice flavoring.  We have pumpkin spice yogurt, coffees, donuts, candles, Oreos, creamer, noodles, cream cheese, ice cream, cereal, popcorn, and more. Even Twinkies and Pop-Tarts. (And who could forget the pumpkin spiced SPAM from a few years ago? 😏)

Does everything need a pumpkin-pie spice version to make it more saleable and trendy? That question got me to thinking... Are we doing the same thing in our churches? Have we created a “pumpkin spice faith” for this time of year too? 

Are we trying to add to our faith to make it more fun, more tempting, more contemporary or current? Are we trying too hard to hopefully attract people back to the pews after the summer months? Are we spending more time trying to look relevant, or are we working to be “biblically relevant”? 

We can certainly be more "flavorful" in our Christianity. As flavorful Christians, we can show the world the majestic love of God. By showing others that the God who created them finds them more desirable than all the wonders of the world. And in doing so, we are putting the flavor, pumpkin spice, salt, or other – into Christian living; but we need to be careful. Many Christian ministry models or approaches take to mimicking what is prevalent in popular culture. Worship can easily become more "created" than true. We shouldn’t become so open-minded that we make it easy for Satan to drop in his lies. 

Christians have been asked to keep their beliefs quiet, not imposing them on others. We have been accused of being narrow-minded and inflexible. Some people like a pumpkin spice donut, but someone else may want the plain glazed, or the one with sprinkles. Evangelism has been called “imposing” our beliefs on others. 

Yet, Jesus told his disciples, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19–20).  

We can’t add pumpkin spice to the Great Commission:

1. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations.” There is not a nation or a group of people that does not need to receive salvation in Christ.
2. Jesus said to “baptize them” in the name of the Triune Deity. Father, Son, and Spirit are all the character of Jehovah God.
3. Jesus said to teach people “all that I have commanded you.” We don’t get to adapt our theology or flavor it to the season we find ourselves and our culture in. The times have changed, but the Great Commission and the entire truth of Scripture have not.

Finally, it doesn’t matter what season of history we have been born into, the same Jesus who was with the apostles is the person of Christ today. Jesus is unchanging with the times, and that will be true to “the end of the age.”

We have not been given permission to add a different “flavor” to God’s word simply because the culture seems to call for that. Jesus isn’t seasonal. He is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). 

I love the changing seasons we experience here in Minnesota. One of the great truths of our earthly lives is that those who are “in Christ” are daily moving forward to the hope of heaven. I just think we need to be careful not to add a false flavor to our worship.  

Cream cheese, ice cream, donuts, and coffee don’t taste like pumpkin spice unless we add it. It might seem better at the time, but it won’t be long before everyone is wanting to taste salted caramel or eggnog or "candy cane" flavored everything that starts to stock the supermarket shelves around Christmas time? It is our nature to change what is natural... It is not God’s nature to change. 

God is eternally consistent in his word, in his character, and in his promises. We shouldn’t think we need to “flavor” our theology to make it more appealing. Biblical truth is what people need. 

If I could add a little flavor to that truth, I would probably try, but I can’t and shouldn't. It is the pure, natural Word of the only true God. People need to hear it in the purest form. Sometimes we Christians might be wise to mimic the flavor... to "pumpkin spice" things up, so long as we remember that flavors are injected merely to help reach other people and not change our faith to try to appease everyone. God's Word is no mere flavor. God's Word is inerrant, natural, life sustaining and most importantly, eternal. Let’s stick with the truth because that provides the real freedom in Christ that people need and leave the "pumpkin spice" for your Starbucks coffee.