"Where's the Beef?

"Where's the beef?" is a catch phrase which has come to mean "Where's the substance?" It came to public attention in a 1980s television commercial for the Wendy's chain of hamburger restaurants, featuring the elderly actress Clara Peller. After receiving a competitor's burger with a massive bun, the small patty prompts the gruff Peller to angrily exclaim "Where's the beef?" The humorous ad and Peller's memorable character soon gave the catch-phrase a life of its own, and was repeated ad nauseam in countless TV shows, films, magazines, and other media outlets.

Toward the end of His ministry, Jesus said “when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" (Lk. 18:8). Since Jesus will obviously find believers on the earth (people who have faith in Christ) when He comes, how are we to interpret this verse?

The writer of Hebrews says faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1 NKJ). When Jesus returns will He find people who have substantial faith? Faith becomes “substantial” when the things in the unseen realm become more real to us than the things we can see. And when Jesus returns, this is what He will be looking for: people who walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). Stop for a moment and consider the substance of your faith as evidenced by what you see? If that which is visible to you is more real than that which is not, where is the substance of your faith? In other words, where's the beef?