September 21, 2007

     Being a scientist, I often think about things and try to discern what the motivation and purpose a particular behavior may serve. Today I was thinking about eating and why we eat. At the risk of sounding like captain obvious, yes it’s true we eat to nourish our physical bodies but what do we feed our spirit?

4 ways we can evaluate where we stand on the spiritual “eating scale” 

 1)  Eating with out understanding the value       

Do you eat just to eat? One example I can think of: at one point or another we have all probably had a parent who made us eat a vegetable we did not like. For this reason we ate because we had to. For me, that would consist of okra, brussel sprouts, and asparagus – YUCK! What would be a vegetable your parents made you eat that you were not particularly fond of?

Can you imagine that when you were eating —————– (fill in the blank) that every bite proved to be a painful experience. You ate that vegetable like it’s an act Houdini would do: now you see it and now you don’t?  Just to get it done and out of the way and so that hopefully you did not taste too much of it. What is the one thing your mom always told you about eating your vegetables – “eat them - they are good for you”. Although we eat them, we may not think that it is nutritionally beneficial but in reality they contain vitamins that our bodies need to grow. I would then question, what is your view of the bible? Do you view it as something your parents told you is a good thing to read but don’t really see the value in it? Did you know that the Bible helps us grow spiritually?

2) Eating only a small amount: we are only ingesting in a tiny snack

            When you sit down to eat, do you eat just a little bit and leave yourself hungry for more? In the physical sense, this usually doesn’t happen as we don’t stop the feeding process until we have had enough. We grab a quick verse before heading out the door in a fury because we are late to where ever we are going. By doing this, we are merely reading words, which may not have the ability to penetrate our hearts. How then do we spend quality time with God in this manner?

3) Starvation

You don’t eat but once a week. Perhaps, during the week you don’t give God any time except going to church on Sunday is the only time you hear His word and the rest of the week is a barren spiritual desert. I think if we were to get down right honest before God, the answer about how and what our spiritual food is and how often we consume it – we would realize that our spirits would look like we came from a third world country; where we are so malnourished that you can see our dry bones thirsting for water. It breaks God’s heart when He sees us in this condition!

4) The right balance of spiritual food

            Those individuals who have a healthy approach spending time in God’s word everyday and praying. They are actively seeking God to reveal himself to them and wanting to invest in their relationship with God.

Why is it so important to read the Bible and get my daily dose of “spiritual food” anyway? 

Simply stated, we should read and study the Bible because it is God’s word to us. 2 Timothy 3:16 states that the Bible is “God-breathed.” In other words, it is God’s Word to us. There are so many questions that philosophers and people have asked that God answers for us in Scripture: What is the purpose to life? Where did I come from? Is there life after death? What happens after death? How do I get to heaven? Why is the world full of evil? Why do I struggle to do good? How can I be a good friend? How can I change? What really matters in life? How can I live so that I do not look back with regret? How can I please God? How can I gain forgiveness? How can I handle the unfair circumstances and bad events of life victoriously?

We should read and study the Bible because God does not change and because mankind’s nature does not change - it is as relevant for us as it was when it was written. While technology changes around us, mankind’s desires and nature do not change. You find, as you read the pages of biblical history, that whether you are talking about one-on-one relationships or societies, “there is nothing new under the sun.” And while mankind as a whole continues to seek love and satisfaction in all of the wrong places, God, our Creator, tells us what will bring us LASTING joy. Jesus himself felt that the word of God was important as He said, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). In other words, if you want to live life to the fullest as God intended, listen and pay attention to God’s written word…it is even more important than eating!

John 6: 35 states: “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” In this verse Jesus is basically telling us that He has all we need but that all we have to do is come to Him. We eat bread and drink water to satisfy our hunger and thirst to sustain life. As bread must be eaten and water needs to be swallowed so must there be an action on our part for our spiritual hunger. We need to invite Jesus into our daily lives as He can satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst.

Jesus was at a well with a woman talking about water – He was trying to explain the difference between physical and spiritual water. John 4:13-15 “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” I think the truth is apparent, we would never starve our bodies of the things it needs why then do we starve our spirit?  Why do we turn to the things of this world to give us fulfillment? When we do, we find ourselves broken, bruised and mangled by the lies we have been fed. Why then do we still hold so tightly to these things? Jesus has given His life so that we may live victoriously over sin. He has given us the tools to strengthen our spirits against the attacks from this world but if you are not actively seeking after God and spending time in His word you will not have a fighting chance. You will find yourself growing weak in your spiritual hunger and fall by the wayside. We need to be like that women at that well: asking how can I obtain this water and seek after it everyday!

~ALD

One of the most challenging fruit of the spirit, in my opinion, is love. It is hard to constantly love when you do not see love in return. In Mark 12:30-31 it says “Love the Lord your God with all you heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and with all your strength. And the second is like this “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This verse is talking about loving God with all that is in you and wanting to serve and please Him. Also, it says to love your neighbor as yourself. This to me is very difficult due to the human condition. As humans, we tend to look at others and unduly judge them. What we do to others is a direct reflection of what we do to Jesus. We also have to consider, would we want someone to do the same to us?

I have another practical illustration of this: Last week as I was on the train on my way home from work. I observed a very disturbing sight. For those of you, who have ever been on a subway it can provide an interesting array of situations, as you have many types of people and at times a large quantity of people crammed into a small space – kind of like sardines in a can. In this time spent on the train, you can observe people in so many ways and this is what I do everyday. Located directly in front of me was an older man on my right and one empty seat right next to him. When we stopped at our next destination more people entered onto the train; among this group of people there were two college age African Americans. One of which sat down directly next to this man in front of me. Yes, this is quickly going to turn into a discussion about race/color. The college aged kid was wrestling through his backpack filled with books and note books – he was obviously looking for something he could not find. In the meantime, the man seated next to him kept looking over at him with glaring and down right nasty / disgusted looks. The two boys began chatting to one another and everything appeared to be fine as they were not bothering anyone. The man looked at me to see what my reaction was and I simply smiled back at him as if to say everything was fine by me. To this moment, I just can’t understand how and why people can judge someone simply based on what they look like. After all, aren’t we all human? What makes us that much different one from another? We have a brain, heart, lungs, eyes, mouth etc. all the same – can a few different expressions of proteins automatically make a person less than another? The expression of protein I am referring to leads ultimately in determining skin color. We cannot infer good or bad of a person simply based on the external yet this man had already made up his mind about these boys. He did not like him and it was apparent by his looks, body language and his judgmental attitude. In this case, I felt anger towards this man but I realized that the bible tells us to hate sin but love the sinner. I realized here that it all boiled down to love our neighbor as our self. I then thought about how when we do things or think mean / evil thoughts about someone it was like doing them directly to Jesus – nailing him back on that cross. (What a visual huh?) I began to think what would really be the implication on the world today if everyone did abide by this simple truth?

To these boys, I would have dedicated this verse: Matthew 5:44 states “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” God will give you the strength to love and pray for those who come against you if He lives within you. This kind of response goes directly against your human flesh –you will need the Holy Spirit to accomplish this seemingly daunting task. Also, we should keep in mind that God loved us first; therefore, we should love others. 1John 4:10 says “This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Broken down this means that God’s love was not dependent on what we as humans do, it was Him loving us first! Even when we struggle in areas of casting judgment against our fellow brothers/ sisters or whatever sin you are struggling with in your life – remember that God loves you and wants to see you victoriously triumph over sin.

In the Ten Commandments, we show love to God by: 1) trusting God alone for everything 2) worshiping God alone 3) not using the Lord’s name in vain 4) by setting a day aside to God.

We show love to others by: 1) respecting our parents 2) being faithful to husband or wife 3) not stealing 4) not coveting someone else’s property. This is found in Exodus 20:1-17.

I think personally, love can make us a better person. If you really love God you will try to obey His commandments and go out on a limb for others. God empowers you to show His love, we are called to be living examples of Christ so that others may know who He is. Being a living example means that we take our relationship with Him seriously! We are to be ready and willing to serve the Lord no matter the coast… this is the true test of what and who you really love and where your priorities truly lie. If we have a growing relationship with Jesus it is my firm belief that all the other fruits of the spirit will fall into place.

~ALD