SPIRITUAL EATS

Do you know where your food comes from? 

Is it Organic?

Is it Pesticide-free?

Is it Non-GMO

Is it Whole Grain?

Is it Free-Range?

Is it Farm-Raised?

Is it Spring-Fed?

We read the labels on what we buy, but sometimes pay no attention to what our eyes, ears and heart ingest.

So if we’re feeling Anemic, maybe we should check the source and the contents of our “spiritual eats.”

The prophet Isaiah asks:

Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?

Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.*

David answers, from the Desert of Judah:

God, you are my God …

I thirst for you,
    my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
    where there is no water.**

Like a starving man, he seeks after the One True God, the God of power and glory, whose love is better than life.

And the result:

He is full.  He is completely satisfied.  As if he has eaten the richest, most nutritious food the world has to offer.

Good spiritual eats.

*Isaiah 55:2

**Psalm 63:1-5

Evil Doesn't Exist ... I hope!

People today are confused about evil and good.  In fact, I think we reject using such terms.  When Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union “an evil empire” I could feel a shock wave going through the country.

How dare he call someone or something evil! 

Is there such a thing as evil?!

Do we have a right to judge something as evil?!

But the horrible deeds of ISIS that have been making the news in recent months seem to confront us with a choice:

Call evil by its proper name and defeat it!  OR

Risk being defeated by it.

In the meantime, while we waffle over the idea that “all people must have good in them somewhere” and “all religions are basically the same,” terror is breaking out in countries all over the world, including our own.

Here is a simple definition that I think (hope) anyone could agree with:

Anything is evil which

kills you, steals from you, or destroys you.

Anything is good which 

gives you life and increases your well-being.

This definition is obviously not original.  It was Jesus who gave it.  And he defined evil and good in terms of himself.

^“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  

John 10:10

It’s time to choose.

Which one do you want?