A Good Meal
October 31, 1999
Dear Friends:
The book of Proverbs gives us a vivid word picture of a man who is so lazy he won’t even feed himself. The Bible says “the sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he will not even bring it back to his mouth!” (Prov. 19:24 – NIV)
Of course no one is so lazy that they won’t even eat so we must look for the true meaning elsewhere. The key lies in the famous quote from Deuteronomy 8:3b where it states “man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.”
The image in Proverbs then is a person so lazy that they won’t even give themselves the nourishment that leads to eternal life. With this insight, the image of Proverbs begins to hit home.
Many of us have experienced the feeling of spiritual strength that comes from a week at Bible School. We spend a week studying the word of God, singing hymns, continuing in prayer and associating with people with a hope in the Kingdom of God. Like a starving person refreshed after a good meal, we return from such events with a zeal for God’s truth and a conviction that we are going to do better.
Unfortunately, most of us have also seen how quickly those feelings and commitments fade as time wears on. Our commitment to read the Bible daily becomes a memory. Our feeling of excitement and zeal lose ground to the cares of our daily grind. During this process of spiritual decline we look back and wonder what happened to make us lose this conviction we once possessed.
The answer to this dilemma seems almost too obvious to mention and too easy to implement, yet we seldom do. We feel so strong at Bible School because of what we do, not because of where we are. We associate with brethren, read the Bible, listen to classes and lectures on spiritual things and pray. Although they are readily available at Bible School, this does not mean we cannot avail ourselves of them when we are home.
Just like our natural food, the answer does not lie in spiritually gorging ourselves a few times a year on the things of the spirit only to go without the rest of the time, but in a balanced diet of spiritual things all year long. Too often we replace the spiritually nutritious things God has provided with the “spiritual junk food” of this world. There is no reason that we cannot listen to Bible School classes instead of turning on the radio in the car or at home. We can read the Bible or a good spiritual book instead of the newspaper or turning on the TV. There are even CD’s available with hymns on them which can replace our less Godly music collection. The tools at our disposal are nearly endless if we will only choose to avail ourselves of them.
Remember, it is not only our bodies that need three, well-balanced meals a day, but our heart and mind.
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” (Matt. 5:6)
Have a great week!
