For the past several years, I have enjoyed our newspaper's food section with recipes in it, but for some reason, this year it has lost its appeal to me. I figured out why when I was looking for black and white print newspapers to use for composting. The recipes are, for the most part, the same. You take a can of this and a box of that and mix them together and add another ingredient off the shelf. Why do the recipes look like that today? It is for the same reason the garden section in the store looks like what it does. Everything is made, even recipes, to cater to our love for convenience.
My chiropractor's office is right by a McDonald's. I go in the later part of the afternoon and notice there already is a line at McDonald's. Amazing. With all the information on the Internet of how to take care of our bodies and to prevent sicknesses, the lines are still long at McDonald's. Why?
I'm not making a case against McDonald's here, and I won't condemn you if I find out that you frequent that place. Nor will I condemn you for using Miracle Gro or a boxed cake mix. You probably have read many articles on health and healing and know the consequences of eating wrongly or eating things that are toxic. But my point is different here. I am looking at the other side of the issue. I don't want anyone to misunderstand the point I am making or read things into what I am saying. If you want to learn more about health issues, I do have a blog for that at http://healthtipsrecipes.blogspot.com/ . On that blog, I talk about health issues in more detail.
I have eaten poorly for many, many years, and I justified every bite of it. I am sorry I had eaten that way because I weigh too much and it is very hard to lose weight when you have lived a life style like that for so long. What am I willing to pay in order to eat right and be healthy again? That is the question we all must ask ourselves, and it not only pertains to eating, but to everything else in life.
The whole issue is centered around our idols. I don't mean to be blunt here, but I am trying to make this as simple to understand as possible. This principle applies to all people not just my readers, yet, we see this principle being worked out way more easily in America than anywhere else, simply because we have so much more right at our fingertips.
Is convenience wrong in itself? No, and sometimes it is helpful. But when it becomes a way of life, it shapes the way we think and what we expect life to give us. We live in a society where ADD is treated as a disease, as if we are helpless and subject to ADD no matter what we do. Our potential becomes less and less because we believe we are not capable to deliver. So, we work around ADD and we make our lives as simple and comfortable as possible.
Let me give examples of what this could look like. Let's say, a person makes and sells homemade soaps, using pure ingredients. Many of our minds do not understand this. People will respond by saying, 'you can just go to a store and buy soap. Why go through the trouble of making it?' Yet, the soap from the store has chemicals in it, and people who use store bought soap are more prone to skin difficulties. Another example would be with boxed cereals. Boxed cereals have lost so many nutrients plus, have added sugars to them, so children will eat them. It would be more work, but you could buy oatmeal and make it without adding sugar or preservatives to it. I had to recently make my own cereal recipe, as I don't like boxed cereals but need to have something on hand for when I need to use that type of cereal. Mine probably tastes better than the boxed cereals, plus it has a lot of good, nutritional ingredients in it. Was it cheap to make? No, it was rather pricey. It took time to find the ingredients and put them together. But it is worth it to me, to have something which is better quality, than something boxed up coated with sugar.
Do you see the struggle here though? There is a tension we all have. Some of us don't have money to pour into making cereal. Most of us can't imagine taking time to learn how to make soap. Whatever is going to be worth it, will take time and money. If we don't put it here, we certainly will put it in medicine or doctor bills. A lot of our sicknesses can be prevented.
We have lived for convenience. We are pragmatic, as a result. We want what we want, NOW. This flows over to every part of our lives, including the spiritual. When we have a problem, we tell someone in the church and expect it to be cured with some Bible verses. Then we start doubting when problems pile up.
I guess, we can take one step at a time. I doubt that any of us really sees the effect of pragmatism in our lives. When we see something like chemicals added to perlite, we automatically think of it as a bonus, when really it is a disadvantage. We like our double cheeseburgers, even though they could make us sick. But, one step at a time, and I think we can do it.
This is a struggle for all of us. It isn't really about Miracle Gro or cheeseburgers. It is about our hearts. What do our hearts crave at the moment? Ease? Comfort? Lack of hard work? What is God calling us to?
Yes, we can take steps to change our habits, but what we really need is a heart change. We need eyes to behold the wonder of God. We need to have encounters with God like Isaiah did, and also Peter. (See Isaiah 6 and Luke 5). Only God can change the heart. As we grow spiritually, we will change. So, that is the answer to all our idolatries, no matter what they are. We must be willing to let go of them, so that God can live big in us.
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| I love my hamburger, my bug spray, my hair spray, my bakery, my nose spray, and my acne cleanser. Life is good. My microwave is pretty cool too. |
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