You Are What You Eat

Your body can only handle so much unhealthy junk before it--er--rejects it. If it's in small enough doses, it processes it as best it can, though cancer and disease may well be down the road.

This is the danger of 'empty calories'* and overprocessed food that has seen much change since it left the grower (if it can even be traced back that far). There's so little nutritional value left in it that it does more harm than good.

*Ah, the myth of 'empty' calories... they're not really empty, are they? They are actually packed with toxins and chemicals and synthetic residue ready to cake our insides with filth.

(And am I the only one who looks at the small print and is a bit incredulous that what was supposed to be cheese is really "processed food product"?)

See the parallel? ("She's gonna turn this into something spiritual, isn't she?" Yup.)

Have we gorged ourselves for so long on the pre-packaged, hyper-emulsified, low-sodium version of the Original that we have completely lost our taste for the Real Thing?

And YES, He's REAL. (Whew! I could take that rabbit trail right now. But I digress..)

Hosea was an Old Testament prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In the 12th chapter, he writes,

Ephraim feedeth on wind, and followeth after the east wind: he daily increaseth lies and desolation; and they do make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil is carried into Egypt.

He was speaking to the ten tribes of Israel, admonishing them for making alliances with Egypt, and espousing its idolatry. Note that while they were 'feeding on wind,' it wasn't simply air they were taking in--it was the spiritual poison of idolatry. In fact, the reference to the "east wind" here points to "the simoon, blowing from the desert east of Palestine, which not only does not benefit, but does injury. Israel follows not only things vain, but things pernicious." (JFB Bible Commentary)

An important point here, I think, is that often we view time spent on entertainment as time simply lost or wasted. More likely, not only have we wasted time; we have exposed our minds to the unfruitful works of darkness, that which does not edify God...we've been 'feeding on wind.'

What seems a harmless indulgence is rarely harmless, or without serious consequences. Truly hungry, we make a hasty choice and gorge ourselves, feeling full for a moment, but few minutes pass before we are hungry again. Synthetic* goes in, never satisfying, and the spiritual man starves.

This has not only to do with entertainment, but includes various theological arguments that carry little weight and take the Bible out of context.

*synthetic = teachings that vaguely resemble biblical truth, but upon closer inspection, are found to be full of error. These include 'heaven on earth' theology, prosperity doctrine, and the sloppy tolerance, greasy grace idea.

What am I saying? I am saying:

Beware of anything that adds its own spin to Biblical principles, distorting the Truth. Do not eat it. This is your bread, and it must at all costs be without artificial additives, and it must be the whole loaf. Eat that which is pure, and you will be pure. Eat that which is holy, leaving nothing out, and you will be holy.

Beware of the all-consuming addiction to entertainment that would steal every free moment and starve your soul.

God, please let me carefully consider what I'm feeding my spirit, and let me refuse the food of convenience that, not only empty of Your Truth, would also poison my soul. Rather, let me choose the 'sincere milk of the Word,' and the meat you prepare for me. Let your presence be my rest, and my entertainment above reproach.

Let me be vigilant, too, about what my children are eating. They depend on me completely for their sustenance.