A Healthy
Appetite
By Jerri Phillips
I'm hungry. As in, my
stomach is growling, and I am
hungry. I had dinner with the
family. I made chicken with
mushroom gravy, and I put it all on a bed
of rice. I fixed a nice salad
with the dark leafy lettuce, and of
course, there was bread.
However, I'm still hungry. As
I sit here, I am trying to decide what to
eat. I have several
choices. I suppose I could
get a piece of chocolate cake that was
left over from my birthday.
It is still moist and yummy.
There is still ice cream in my freezer,
also from my birthday. Let's
see. There are chips in the
cabinet, and I did get the really
delicious raspberry jam at the grocery
store today. Of course, there
is always the fallback sugar-packed,
artificially flavored loop
cereal. You know
what? I have to confess that
all of those concoctions sound really
good to me. However, while
they may sound really good to me, they
aren't really good for me.
Granted, they would satisfy the urge to
eat, but they wouldn't satisfy the real
need for nutrients and energy packing
sustenance.
If you are like me, though, sometimes
it is really easy to partake of the
high-sugar, low-usefulness foods instead
of the good-for-me stuff. And
the thing is it isn't even always about
taste. I really like the
taste of smoked turkey
sandwiches. I like the taste
of salads. I enjoy a salad as
much as I do most sugar
confections. The problem
isn't taste. The problem is
the sugar-laden fat-enhancers are
easy. It is a lot easier to
cut a piece of cake than make a tuna
sandwich. It is easier to
grab a candy bar while in line at the
store than to take the extra time when I
get home to fix a nice salad.
Yes, I admit. My greatest foe
in the war of good food versus bad food
is not dark chocolate, but my own
laziness.
Can you relate, or am I just baring my
soul to drown out the gurgles coming from
my abdomen?
You know what else gets to
me? Those
guaranteed-to-put-fat-on-your-thighs
foods look so good! They look
good. Ever take a look at the
dessert tray at some of the nicer
restaurants? Oh,
wow! Does it look good!
Oh, and do those desserts taste great!
They look so good!
And you know what else?
Studies show that some sugary confections
such as chocolate actually make us feel
better. They release
chemicals into our blood stream that help
us feel more relaxed and
happy. When you look at all
those desserts have going for them, it's
no wonder they're so incredibly tempting.
Did I mention they taste great, too?
It's amazing how all we know about
being healthy and fit can be ignored
because of some fancy chocolate on a
plate. We know it isn't good
for us, but we eat it anyway.
Sometimes we eat it because it tastes
good. Sometimes we like the sugar
high. Sometimes we eat it
because we are really hungry and those
sugar-based waist-enhancers are easier to
procure than good-for-us foods.
For whatever reason, we indulge in the
sweets and then seem amazed at the
results. Our clothes get
smaller. Our hearts get
larger, and our blood pressure goes
through the roof. We see all
the negative effects, and we just keep
eating.
You know, sin is the same way.
Sadly, we don't just feast on physical
junk food that attacks our bodies. We
also feast on spiritual junk food that
attacks our souls.
Spiritual junk food takes various
forms. The most obvious is
sin. If I were to take a
survey asking what sin does to a person,
the primary answer would probably be:
causes people to go to hell.
That is true. Another
possible answer is that sin will destroy
a person's life in a variety of
ways. That is also
true. Still another answer
may be that sin brings death.
Again, this is true.
If I were to ask what benefits there
are to sin, most people will scoff and
reply that there are no
benefits. Certainly there are
few immediate benefits and no long-term
benefits.
There are subtler forms of spiritual
junk food, though. For
instance, anything that takes precedence
over time with God either in prayer of
Bible study is spiritual junk food.
Now, let me put in a disclaimer
here. There are days when
things get out of control.
I've spent days organizing meals for sick
people. I've spent hours at a
hospital waiting for a baby to be born or
a surgery to be completed. I
know that sometimes situations occur that
leave us utterly drained at the end of
the day, not having had time to read and
meditate on the Word. Still,
I would propose that there is time for
prayer while waiting, while driving, any
still moment is a time for
prayer. And, I also think,
while days like that are valid excuses,
they also are very rare.
Super Bowls, television shows, good
books that refuse to be put down, and so
forth all too often serve as our means of
relaxing and unwinding. Now,
while they may not be wrong in and of
themselves, they too often become excuses
for depriving ourselves of what we need
most, which is God and His presence.
Personally, I enjoy
scrapbooking. It relieves
stress and helps me get away from the
demands of a husband, two children, a
home, and everything else that stressed
me out that day. However, I
have to acknowledge that my little hobby
can be spiritual junk. When I
scrapbook so late that I am unable to
focus on the Word or prayer, my outlet
has become my inhibitor. It is no longer
beneficial but detrimental to
me. When I do that, and I
have, I have taken a quick fix that
serves as an outlet for my tired mind and
superimposed it so that it is my
solution. Wouldn't it be more
prudent to spend some time scrapbooking
to release some of the day's pressures
and then spend a lot of time in prayer or
in the Word where I can learn how to walk
in peace and joy no matter what pressures
assail me?
Now, I don't think God is
anti-fun. In fact, Jesus was
known to socialize, and His first miracle
took place at a wedding. He
knew how to have fun. He also
knew when it was time to get alone and
pray, and He did not confuse the two.
As people, we often listen to Satan
tell us that sex and love are the same,
that chemicals can make us feel better,
that we have to live up to a stereotype
to be accepted. The Bible
says that God is love (1John 4:16); the
Holy Spirit brings joy and peace
(Galatians 5:22-23), and Jesus loves you
as you are (Romans 5:8). Why
look for substitute stuff that will never
satisfy us rather than partaking of the
good stuff that will bring us life?
My friends, we have two
choices. We can choose to eat
junk, which will do harm to us and
ultimately kill us, or we can choose the
One that will bring us life.
If we want the good stuff, we have to
make time for prayer and Bible
study. It isn't always the
easiest way, and it may be very hard to
motivate yourself to make those a part of
your daily routine, but it is worth it,
and it's good for you. You
will reap incredible benefits, and that
isn't junk.
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