Junk Food
- Heidi Eva Jones
- Jan 31, 2024
- 5 min read
Volume 13 Issue 1
Greeting in His Name,
You know some restaurants have challenges, and they will display a sign, eat or consume at your own risk. Whatever 'it' is, the challenge is not going to be easy. Because often there are some benefits behind meeting the challenge. I challenge you today, this new year, to spend more time in God's Word, more time fasting and praying. If you are up for the challenge, I promise you God has some great benefits. We have enough junk going on around us, daily trying to invade our space. Making us spiritually malnourished and hooked on secular junk food that brings no value to our lives. With that being said, today's blog is entitled Junk Food. Hope you find some inspiration, conviction, and queries.
shalom and love,
heidi
As I sometimes do, I was scheming through the dictionary and came across the word junk food. I didn't think this word was in the dictionary because it seems self-explanatory. But a spark went off after reading the definition, something that is appealing or enjoyable but of little or no real value. I thought about how, as Christians, we take in things that are appealing and enjoyable but are not fruitful to our souls and spirits. So here I go on a scavenger hunt to find those areas in the Word that will help us to identify junk foods (things that will harm our spirit) and GOoD foods (things that will help our spirit).
Colossians 3 explains it well. When time permits, please read it in its entirety. The scripture tells us to take these off our plate, Colossians 3:5, 8, 9 CEV, Don't be controlled by your body. Kill every desire for the wrong kind of sex. Don't be immoral or indecent or have evil thoughts. Don't be greedy, which is the same as worshiping idols. But now you must stop doing such things. You must quit being angry, hateful, and evil. You must no longer say insulting or cruel things about others. And stop lying to each other. You have given up your old way of life with its habits. Practicing self-control is a daily task. It takes work to let go of some of these things and many other things that the Word instructs us to "loose." I have often thanked God for grace, God Releasing All Circumstances Eagerly. If God hadn't eagerly whispered to me His love despite my wrongs, I don't know where I would be. By no means am I sugar-coating sin, but when I think of the sacrifice of Jesus, I shout HALLELUJAH because He knew we would need Him to escort us back to the Father through the shedding of His blood. He knew we needed a redeemer.
In Matthew 15, we find Jesus being confronted by church leaders. They ask Him the simple question, 15:2: Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread. Of course, in today's society, we cringe when we think of people not washing their hands before eating, which is not my point. My point is that this was not actually law; it was tradition and the right way to them. Well, Jesus' rebuttal, why do you transgress the real law? This puts them in a state of questioning themselves. To make a long story short, in verse 18, Jesus lets them know that it's not what goes in a man (mouth) that defiles him but what comes out of him because it comes straight from the heart. In addition, Matthew 15:19-20 CEV, Out of your heart come evil thoughts, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage, vulgar deeds, stealing, telling lies, and insulting others. These are what make you unclean. Eating without washing your hands will not make you unfit to worship God. It may make you unfit to eat at mom's table, but not to experience worship. Junk food has little to no nutritional content, and neither does a life filled with the deeds above. If we allow these things to enter our hearts daily, we are prone to have a spiritual heart attack! Cardiac arrest! We should go to the church (spiritual hospital) at this point! I don't know about you, but when I gave my heart to Jesus and found myself at times eating junk food, I felt sick. It wasn't until I restored that fellowship with God that I could enjoy the GOoD food at the table of worship.
I will not leave you hanging here with the bad and not share some GOoD. Colossians 3:11-14 CEV, It doesn't matter if you are a Greek or a Jew, or if you are circumcised or not. You may even be a barbarian or a Scythian, and you may be a slave or a free person. Yet Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. God loves you and has chosen you as his own special people. So be gentle, kind, humble, meek, and patient. Put up with each other, and forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you. Love is more important than anything else. It is what ties everything completely together. The good thing about GOoD food is that it supplies you with a daily dose of warmth from above. When we know that we are pleasing to God, it makes our hearts glad. This scripture tells us that no one is left out of this experience. I don't care about your color or nationality; we can all experience God's GOoD. So fill your plate with the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23 CEV, God's Spirit makes us loving, happy, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. There is no law against behaving in any of these ways. And your life with the gifts of the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 NIV, Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
Let me pray with you. Father, we come before You in the matchless name of Jesus Christ, asking that You change our eating habits. We may have been neglectful because it's so much easier to get the fast food - junk - than to get the healthy food - good. Help us not only nurture our spiritual bodies but also attack our physical bodies in the same way so that we may lead good lives in every way. We thank You for this word and pray that You continue to give us GOoD food - the WORD. Amen.
LIFE QUOTE
“A society that thinks the choice between ways of living is just a choice between equally eligible "lifestyles" turns universities into academic cafeterias offering junk food for the mind."
-George Will
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How do you learn how to make ice cream? In Sunday (Sundae) School.
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