I love snacks. I could snack all day. Chips, donuts, cokes, string cheese…I could probably make a list longer than all the types of shrimp Forrest and Bubba came up with. They are my weakness. What I have found over my years of snacking is that they never leave you full. Snacks are like throwing gasoline on a fire. It makes a big flame but it doesn’t last. If you want a fire that lasts you have to have a fuel that is jam packed with lasting fuel. Wood burns so well because of the years of growth it has taken to build it into what it is.
Some Christians live from one spiritual snack to the next. They snack on quick prayers, weekly worship, a verse here and there, and maybe something on the radio or a Christian CD that keeps them encouraged. Moving rapidly from one snack to the next there is never a sense of being full. There is never a lasting feeling of satiation. Deeply rooted spiritual experience and relationship with God is forfeited for a much shallower yet much flashier brand of Christian faith that is high carb, high fat, low protein and low fiber. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. (Matthew 5:6). When you think about your faith, is there ever a time you can say you feel “filled”? Jesus promised it. If we don’t then maybe we aren’t actually hungering and thirsting after righteousness. Maybe we have been hungering and thirsting for something that has the appearance of spiritual nutrients but in the end is no more than spiritual junk food.
Jesus explained the differences between these types of Christians through his parable of the seed. The sower sows seed and it falls on different types of soil. Spiritual snackers are like the seed that falls in the rocky places (Matthew 13:5). It springs up quickly but because it has no root so its quick growth is rapidly depleted. But the seed that falls on good soil had the lasting nutrients it needed to grow tall but also deep as its roots had a favorable environment to grow in a lasting way.
So put down your spiritual snacks and Christian crutches and begin a healthier diet that may not be as flashy and maybe doesn’t taste as sugary but it will see you through the tough times and draw you in closer to the heart of God.
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one of your best posts ever! Thank you Matt….
Hi Matt,
I really like reading your posts and the picture of the junk food Christian is a really cool analogy.
One question: when Christ described the seed on the rocky ground was that really a description of Christian living? Isn’t it more likely that it was a description of someone who ultimately rejected the message?
In Christ,
Mark
Mark,
Great question. I guess that is kind of the point…that is not the description of healthy spiritual living and only results in an unhealthy conception of Christianity. In the parable it seems that the seed that falls on rocky soil is eventually lost. That is the plea toward spiritual snackers…how long can you go on like this before you die of spiritual heart disease?
Spot on, we’re tracking each other. Looking forward to back reading some of your previous posts.
In Christ,
Mark
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It’s just weird looking at that pic, it makes me realize how unhealthy our society is currently.