I hate forwards. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but I really do. However, yesterday I actually read one sent by my step-mother-in-law and was laughing out loud. It’s called the COPING DIET:
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Only girlfriends can understand this one. This is a specially formulated diet designed to help women cope with the stress that builds during the day.
Breakfast
1 grapefruit
1 slice whole wheat toast
1 cup skim milk
Lunch
1 small portion lean, steamed chicken
1 cup spinach
1 cup herbal tea
1 Hershey’s kiss
Afternoon Snack
The rest of the Hershey kisses in the bag
1 tub of Hagen-Daaz ice cream with chocolate chips
Dinner
4 glasses of wine (red or white)
2 loaves garlic bread
1 family size supreme pizza
3 Snickers Bars
Late Night Snack
1 whole Sarah Lee cheesecake (eaten directly from the freezer)
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How many of you have seen this progression through the day? I know I have. I’ve gained 5 lbs. since moving in with my parents. (I know that I am still very skinny; don’t worry this post is not about weight!) That’s not their fault, but what it’s shown to me is that there is a very real link between intake and result. When there are cookies in the house, I will eat many of them. When I eat many cookies, my jeans get tight. Very basic stuff. No matter what the latest fad diet book tells us, whatever we intake will have a direct effect on our bodies whether good or bad.
So I’ve been contemplating this with regard to more important things than eating and drinking. I marvel sometimes that we as Christians are capable of seeing this rather obvious link with regards to our nutrition, but fail to see the greater implications for our spiritual life. As many of you know, I feel like this year has been a crash course in God challenging my assumptions and behaviors. Why do I think the way I do? How much of my actions and thinking and beliefs is influenced by the world, by culture, by being an American, and how much is influenced by God, by His Word, by the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Why do I think that it’s a big deal to not buy clothes for a year? Why do I think that it’s unacceptable to live with one’s parents? Why do I assume that we need 2 cars? Why is watching a movie the default thing to do for a date night? Why does evangelism consist of tracts and awkwardly forced conversations? Why do I feel it’s important for Jeff to have some sort of title or position instead of just “guy who does stuff” at church? Why does it matter if my toddler’s tennis shoes have a nike swoosh on them or not? Why do I feel more acceptable now that I’m a size 4 and not a size 8?
So many of my unchallenged assumptions are nothing more than American material mindsets that are found nowhere in Scripture or in the Father heart of God. So, if this is the result, what is the cause of us having the same mindset as the world? Why do we have the mind of an American more than the mind of Christ? The same reason we gain 5 lbs. after following the Coping Diet above. We don’t watch our intake.
I am amazed and saddened by how many of us want to seek God, want the mind of Christ, and yet maintain a great appetite for the things of the world. I cannot even count how many times I have heard people who love Christ employing logic and wisdom gained from Oprah or other talk show hosts. This morning I read 1 Chronicles 29 and in verse 14 David is praising God for His faithfulness, and he says “Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to ffer so willingly as this? For all things comes from You. And of Your own we have given to You.” How’s that for counter-cultural? This is the mind and heart of God. If you tune into secular TV, magazines, anything, you will never hear “You are God’s and the right response of worship is to offer everything in your life to Him.” So how will we get this? How will this truth be rooted in our hearts at such depth that its fruit will spring out in faithfulness, love, peace, and joy in our lives? We must eat it. We must intake. We must watch what we put into my hearts and minds to ensure that we are flooded with the truth.
Unfortunately, this takes work. Ask any person who has tried to lose weight and they will tell you it takes work. The default mode is to eat junk and intake worldliness. Strenuously swimming upstream is a lot harder than rolling over and floating on your back down the river of our culture. But is it worth it? I think so! I want the mind of Christ more than anything. I want a pure mind that seeks God, that knows His heart, that thinks His thoughts after Him. My spirit wants this! But as long as we live on this earth our bodies will be enticed by the pattern of the world. Just a few weeks ago Jeff and I had a free evening, and were considering what to do. He suggested watching a TV show, since neither of us ever watch TV and it might be fun to see what all the hype is about. He thought something popular like CSI would be fun. I dragged my heels because I just don’t like watching TV in general, but I figured it’d be a good chance to snuggle, so I said ok. No kidding, no more than TWO minutes into this show, there was a flashback video scene of a girl in the middle of having sex. ARE YA KIDDING ME?! Jeff clicked off the TV and shook his head. We decided instead for our date to snuggle on the couch and pray together. It was the sweetest time! And I mean that. No we were not being pious, no we were not acting our of duty, we were engaging in some of the sweetest fellowship possible. The two of us and God. Afterwards we sat in bed and played cards. It was a great date.
I’m realizing now that this post is losing all sense of cohesiveness…it’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion. At any rate, my sister-in-law introduced me to www.adbusters.org a fun website that journals the mental environment of media and culture. Today’s fascinating post was on the terrifying culture of anorexic models and how they influence teen girls (and us grown up women!). This is a prime example though of how we are so shaped and influenced by whatever it is that we intake. Long ago I quit looking at fashion magazines and Victoria Secret catalogs because there all it does is feed my flesh’s desire for vanity. What is our intake? On what are we feeding?
Our culture would have us believe that evangelism is rude, awkward, and only for those crazies who stand on streetcorners with big signs and yell at people. I propose that evangelism is nothing more than a mind and heart filled with Christ that overflows. My mom gets her hair done often, and always shares pictures and stories with her hairdresser. This week her stylist specifically asked her about a Moms in Touch conference my mom had mentioned several months earlier. Not only had the girl remembered, she’d wanted to hear about it! My mom had an awesome opportunity to talk naturally and without apologies about her kids, Christ, and the great things she sees God doing. That is evangelism! My mom’s life is full of Christ, so when you bump into her, it simply spills over.
So, I wanted to this to be all over the road because I didn’t just want a LiveDifferent Challenge that was “quit watching Oprah” or “throw away your fashion magazines.” That’s too small. Watching our intake is so much bigger than that. Only you know what your intake is and how it’s affecting you. Only you know if you intake more of the world or more of God’s Word. Only you know the specific ways that you can say no to our American culture of feeding our flesh and say yes to the glorious and God-magnifying way of living that truly satisfies. I simply challenge you to watch your intake, and ask about everything “is this helping or hindering my walk with my Savior? Ask God, use this as an opportunity to draw near to Him and ask His opinion– “What do you think about ____, God?” Sit down and challenge your assumptions, evaluate which are from God and which are from the world. This is so big it could be the topic of an entire blog, not just one entry. But let’s start here. Let’s go on a Worldliness Diet. Let’s glut ourselves with God’s Word and starve the flesh of selfishness and materialism. Consider that your life is so incredibly short (See Life on Loan by Kris and Nikki), and while we’re here, let’s watch our intake.
Too vague? Here are three ways to enact this LiveDifferent Challenge this week:
1. Figure out how much time you spend watching TV/surfing web, etc. in one week. Spend that amount of time this week reading God’s Word instead.
2. Consider what magazines/visual stimuli you allow into your home/mind. Ask God about each one and cancel any you might have a conscience-check about.
3. Sit down and think through five general life assumptions that you life under. Write them out and evaluate whether they are true according to God. If not, cross them out and write the truth (according to scripture) down instead. Meditate this week on those truths instead.
Watch your intake! No more coping diet, ok?