On Spiritual Food
Published April 23, 2007
Mt. 5:6 Part A: Playing With Food
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5:6
**** ****
When I was about 3 years old, I remembered a common occurrence. My baby brother, J.E. would entertain me during dinner by strewing his food around. He seemed to put his meal everywhere but in his mouth. No amount of preparation seemed to help. My mother put layers of newspaper under J.E.’s highchair. She put a large bib with a wide pocket to protect his clothes. Yet he prevailed. Food went on the floor, on the walls, on his face, in his hair, and on me! Interesting that with this expected event each meal, my mother didn’t get angry or upset. Maybe it was because my brother was young, and playing with food was not considered serious.
A few years later my sister L.E. displayed interesting eating habits. We were not permitted to leave the table until all our food was eaten from our plate. My sister didn’t like peas, but she made her plate look like she ate them. They were also hidden in her napkin, thrown under baby Syl’s highchair, mixed into her mashed potatoes, or stored in her cheeks. She knew her food was good for her, yet she played with it. Do we do the same with our spiritual food?
When we are “baby” Christians we make a mess of God’s Word. Our spiritual food goes all over the place. We don’t seem to comprehend much at all. But we persevere, pray, and mature a bit, grasping a deeper meaning of forgiveness, grace, faith, wisdom, and love. Still, sometimes we look at a Biblical teaching and instead of studying and applying it, we “play” with it. We tuck it away out of sight. We don’t take God’s word seriously. We redefine scripture, so that it doesn’t look like food at all. It looks like a mess. Sadly, like me with my baby brother, the world is entertained by the foolishness. And we know better.
Fortunately, God gave us hunger pangs by way of prayer. Perhaps you’ve heard these phrases: “Let’s open with a word of prayer,” “Let’s prepare our hearts and minds for a lesson from the Word of God,” and “Let us ask the Lord to bless this assembly.” These prayers are not for show. They ready us to receive spiritual food. By praying, the aroma of God’s Word draws us to it. We pine and hunger for a better understanding. We thirst for the wisdom in living God’s will.
Today let’s begin with a prayer to help focus our minds and hearts to receive God’s Word. We know it is good for our spiritual growth, so let’s not play with our food.
**** ****
Oh Heavenly Father, you are so wonderful. You have provided spiritual food for our souls through your divine scriptures. But Lord, I do not take this nourishment seriously. Please open my eyes Lord that I may desire your Word. Help me to thirst after the righteousness so I may do your will. In Jesus’ name, amen.
**** ****
Published April 25, 2007
Mt. 5:6 Part B: Spiritual Junk Food
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5:6
**** ****
“Yeah,” I heard a daughter say recently, “My parents are addicted to sudoku.” What? I was shocked that “parents,” “addicted,” and “sudoku,” were used in the same sentence. “It’s everywhere.” (Sudoku is a Japanese originated numbers placement puzzle, typically on a 9 X 9 grid of squares.)
Hmph! I’m not addicted to that silly puzzle. I just have two electronic versions, four books in two rooms, the daily puzzle in the newspaper, a puzzle-a-day calendar, and two website links saved under “Favorites.” Gee, “addicted” is so, so... uh, so…correct. When I saw how much of my time was used for this recreation, I began to make mental excuses.
I was mentally challenged and stimulated by these games. I like solitaire-type games. If I couldn’t get the puzzle solve, no one would judge me. And when I finished a puzzle the joy was so satisfying! Wait. I realized that I had been feasting on spiritual junk food. Puzzling wasn’t just a hobby. It consumed time that used to be devoted to reading and studying the scriptures. I forgot that the Bible was challenging, stimulating, and satisfying. I traded quiet time with the Lord for a solitaire game. I didn’t wait for the abundant blessings from on High. I wanted to solve the puzzle, now.
It’s so easy to put other seemly harmless activities in front of spending time in the Word. We soon believe that these activities can satisfy spiritual needs. Today’s simple short verse says otherwise. But where is the link between righteousness mentioned in the verse and spiritual food as I have been writing about? Think about the entire eating experience. It begins with hunger pangs. Next we actually partake of the nourishing food. Then it is digested and utilized throughout the body.
So, we must “hunger” for God’s spiritual food (written about in Part A). We must “eat” the right spiritual food (The Bible). Then we can be satisfied of attaining the end result (righteousness). That’s a lot of God’s wisdom in that little verse, but isn’t it great that He made it so palatable?!
**** ****
O Dear Father On High, I have set aside your Word and replaced it with junk food. I rest upon your promise of forgiveness, Lord. Give me strength to avoid spiritual junk food. And help me to spend my time wisely in your Word, that I may be spiritually satisfied. Amen.
Mt. 5:6 Part A: Playing With Food
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5:6
**** ****
When I was about 3 years old, I remembered a common occurrence. My baby brother, J.E. would entertain me during dinner by strewing his food around. He seemed to put his meal everywhere but in his mouth. No amount of preparation seemed to help. My mother put layers of newspaper under J.E.’s highchair. She put a large bib with a wide pocket to protect his clothes. Yet he prevailed. Food went on the floor, on the walls, on his face, in his hair, and on me! Interesting that with this expected event each meal, my mother didn’t get angry or upset. Maybe it was because my brother was young, and playing with food was not considered serious.
A few years later my sister L.E. displayed interesting eating habits. We were not permitted to leave the table until all our food was eaten from our plate. My sister didn’t like peas, but she made her plate look like she ate them. They were also hidden in her napkin, thrown under baby Syl’s highchair, mixed into her mashed potatoes, or stored in her cheeks. She knew her food was good for her, yet she played with it. Do we do the same with our spiritual food?
When we are “baby” Christians we make a mess of God’s Word. Our spiritual food goes all over the place. We don’t seem to comprehend much at all. But we persevere, pray, and mature a bit, grasping a deeper meaning of forgiveness, grace, faith, wisdom, and love. Still, sometimes we look at a Biblical teaching and instead of studying and applying it, we “play” with it. We tuck it away out of sight. We don’t take God’s word seriously. We redefine scripture, so that it doesn’t look like food at all. It looks like a mess. Sadly, like me with my baby brother, the world is entertained by the foolishness. And we know better.
Fortunately, God gave us hunger pangs by way of prayer. Perhaps you’ve heard these phrases: “Let’s open with a word of prayer,” “Let’s prepare our hearts and minds for a lesson from the Word of God,” and “Let us ask the Lord to bless this assembly.” These prayers are not for show. They ready us to receive spiritual food. By praying, the aroma of God’s Word draws us to it. We pine and hunger for a better understanding. We thirst for the wisdom in living God’s will.
Today let’s begin with a prayer to help focus our minds and hearts to receive God’s Word. We know it is good for our spiritual growth, so let’s not play with our food.
**** ****
Oh Heavenly Father, you are so wonderful. You have provided spiritual food for our souls through your divine scriptures. But Lord, I do not take this nourishment seriously. Please open my eyes Lord that I may desire your Word. Help me to thirst after the righteousness so I may do your will. In Jesus’ name, amen.
**** ****
Published April 25, 2007
Mt. 5:6 Part B: Spiritual Junk Food
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5:6
**** ****
“Yeah,” I heard a daughter say recently, “My parents are addicted to sudoku.” What? I was shocked that “parents,” “addicted,” and “sudoku,” were used in the same sentence. “It’s everywhere.” (Sudoku is a Japanese originated numbers placement puzzle, typically on a 9 X 9 grid of squares.)
Hmph! I’m not addicted to that silly puzzle. I just have two electronic versions, four books in two rooms, the daily puzzle in the newspaper, a puzzle-a-day calendar, and two website links saved under “Favorites.” Gee, “addicted” is so, so... uh, so…correct. When I saw how much of my time was used for this recreation, I began to make mental excuses.
I was mentally challenged and stimulated by these games. I like solitaire-type games. If I couldn’t get the puzzle solve, no one would judge me. And when I finished a puzzle the joy was so satisfying! Wait. I realized that I had been feasting on spiritual junk food. Puzzling wasn’t just a hobby. It consumed time that used to be devoted to reading and studying the scriptures. I forgot that the Bible was challenging, stimulating, and satisfying. I traded quiet time with the Lord for a solitaire game. I didn’t wait for the abundant blessings from on High. I wanted to solve the puzzle, now.
It’s so easy to put other seemly harmless activities in front of spending time in the Word. We soon believe that these activities can satisfy spiritual needs. Today’s simple short verse says otherwise. But where is the link between righteousness mentioned in the verse and spiritual food as I have been writing about? Think about the entire eating experience. It begins with hunger pangs. Next we actually partake of the nourishing food. Then it is digested and utilized throughout the body.
So, we must “hunger” for God’s spiritual food (written about in Part A). We must “eat” the right spiritual food (The Bible). Then we can be satisfied of attaining the end result (righteousness). That’s a lot of God’s wisdom in that little verse, but isn’t it great that He made it so palatable?!
**** ****
O Dear Father On High, I have set aside your Word and replaced it with junk food. I rest upon your promise of forgiveness, Lord. Give me strength to avoid spiritual junk food. And help me to spend my time wisely in your Word, that I may be spiritually satisfied. Amen.
posted by Karen Vaughn | 9:11 AM
2 Comments:
Wow! These devotionals are awesome. I thank the Lord that he gave you the vision for writing them. I totally agree that we tend to shift our attention towards things that really dont matter and putting away from that which does matter. God is so great and little simple illustrations as these are of great aid. Continue writing them as i'll be reading them daily, and May the Lord God of Israel, Jesus Christ, Continue to bless you and your family.
Thank you for the kind comment. I'm not prolific enough to write daily, but I generally average 2 per month. I will try to bring out older devotionals to meet a once-per-week posting goal.
In the mean time, here's something for your binary mind. In my old office I had written on a mini chalkboard "1 + 1 = 1." When I was questioned about it I'd reply, "Some number systems allow this." When pressed further I'd add, "See Genesis 2:24!"
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