“You’re going to find that there will be times when people will have no stomach for solid teaching, but will fill up on spiritual junk food—catchy opinions that tickle their fancy. They’ll turn their backs on truth and chase mirages. But you—keep your eye on what you’re doing; accept the hard times along with the good; keep the Message alive; do a thorough job as God’s servant.” – 2 Timothy 4:3-5 (MSG)
The writer of this passage, Paul, cautions us to keep the goal of life-transformation as the primary driver behind why we do what we do. He tells us to “keep your eye on what you’re doing”. It seems simple in theory.
Let’s use food as an example of what healthy life-transformation looks like. Most people like indulging in junk food once and a while. Have you noticed though, the more you give in to that indulgence, the more you crave it? There’s no real value to it in terms of nutrition - that’s why it’s called “junk” food, right? Because, well…it’s junk!
What would happen if you allowed every meal to be defined by these cravings? Can you imagine eating nothing but junk? No solid nutrition at all - and while our bodies would continue to crave it, the effects of the lack of nutrition from our lifestyle choices would then determine the outcome of the type of life we live.
Likewise, what we feed our heart, mind, and soul, will determine our Spiritual intelligence, health, and confidence. The danger is that we’re surrounded by a vast amount of unhealthy choices that we could be indulging in. Knowing how easy it is to gain a few pounds over a weekend eating junk food, in the same way when we indulge in practices that aren’t aligned with God’s word, it’s easy for us to stray away to things that are fleeting - to “tickle our fancy” as Paul says - and that can put us on a slippery slope away from Truth.
Believing the truth of Jesus and living our lives with a desire to resemble His, can be hard to maintain when it can come with an unpopular label. Oh, it’s easy to swoon people with words and manipulate others based on their feelings - anyone can do that! But to remain stable in your stance of faith, when it goes against the crowd - well, that can be super hard!
When you’re among friends and family, who are after sensationalism and only tune into what “feels good” for them or suits their situation based on their judgment- those who have no interest in spiritual growth, but are only interested in satisfying their curiosities and desires - how do you stand strong in the midst of it?
Jesus says that to live, is to construct our lives on the word of God. (ref. Matthew 4:4). This means we need to stay alert and stay focussed as to what we’re digesting! This isn’t easy and it isn’t popular.
But our time with Jesus, time in Scripture, and having a sisterhood of believers will be what keeps us strong.
Let’s ask God to help us crave His word today.
Comments