Thursday, August 11, 2005
Onions taste great on your hamburger. And they keep tasting long after the burger is a memory. Garlic tastes great on your pizza. But it will be there for you for the rest of the night. In fact, the onions and garlic will be there, not only for you, but for anybody who gets close to you - which won't be very many. Many teenagers have discovered the interesting aftermath of a scrumptious hot fudge sundae or a chocolate bar - acne appearing tomorrow morning on center face. The chocolate was great - briefly. The acne is ugly - not briefly. And what about that ancient wisdom "a moment on the lips, forever on the hips." Those super-size fries or that creamy milk shake will taste wonderful - briefly. And possibly enlarge your body for months or years to come! Here is Science for the Simple, just in case you haven't figured this out already: What you eat affects you later.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Repeating Part of Eating."
More people than ever before are thinking about what they're putting in their mouths; checking the cholesterol, fat grams, and sodium because what you eat affects you later - maybe even how long you live. And whether you think about the effects of what you're eating or not, the effects pile up anyway. It's smart to think about what you are putting into your mouth ... and into your mind!
Your mind, your heart - that's the control center of your life. And you're being shaped by what you put into your mind. Our word for today from the Word of God is Proverbs 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart, because it is the wellspring of life." God likens your heart to a well, and whatever you let into the well is going to affect the taste of everything that comes from it.
Which brings us to what you're "eating" mentally and spiritually; the music you listen to, the movies you see, the TV you watch, those books and magazines you read, the pictures you look at, the things you laugh at, the conversations you're in. What's it saying about love, about relationships, about God, about the opposite sex, about life, about marriage? What's it saying about what's morally okay and morally not okay? That's the diet that is regularly going into the control center of your life.
You may not want to think about it. You may not think it's having any affect on you. But just like the person who unthinkingly eats the garlic that will give them dragon breath or the fatty stuff that will make them fat - and maybe even dead someday - the effects just keep piling up. And if you're trying to live as Jesus wants you to, you just cannot continue to feed yourself input that is programming you to do exactly the opposite of what He wants you to do. To think about the opposite of what He wants you to think about. There's a darkness in the center of you because of the images and the inputs you're allowing inside. They are affecting you, they are shaping you, they are eroding you morally, and they're warring against the you that you really want to be.
Isn't it time you start to take seriously God's command, "Guard your heart"? He says that's above all else! What you are eating is affecting you. And no matter how good it tastes or looks, you just cannot afford the damage it's doing and will do long after the flavor is past. If Jesus is against it, don't watch it, don't listen to it, don't laugh at it. Load up on the good stuff that promotes what's pure and right and positive, because what you eat now does affect you later! Cleaning up your mental diet is the beginning of a new, improved you!