Spiritual Anorexia

What do the following all have in common?

• A hose and a faucet spigot
• An oxygen tank and a emphysema patient
• An electrical plug and an outlet
• A newborn and her nursing mother

If they are not directly connected to the other, they are completely unable to receive the intended benefit for which the relationship was designed.  Each is powerless, incapable to receive the needed profit.

May I add one additional duo?

• The believer and the Word of God.

I propose that the following further damaging results occur for a child of God when she consistently resists, refuses, or just ignores the vital relationship of putting the Word of God regularly, seriously, and personally into her mind and heart:

1.   She sees herself in a way totally distinct from reality. One’s own sin is downplayed; ability to cope on her own or ‘take care of herself’ becomes paramount;  worldly thinking & cultural values seep in to give her the ‘grid’ from which she judges value, worth, her own purpose.
2.    She doesn’t recognize the harm she is self-inflicting; indeed, she is blind to seeing any problem at all.  Thus a secular mindset & lifestyle of ‘goodness’ replaces heart-oriented spiritual fellowship and dependence on God. ‘This world’ becomes all there is, even though lip service may be given to God, church, and the Bible.  Job, family, pleasure, self-concern reign. Disinterest in the Bible or things of God often grow as her heart drifts, subtly, slyly, away from God.  Yet she is clueless.
3.   She is deceived to the extent of the peril she is in. When problems or ‘crisis’ does occur, she wonders and questions, seeking for wisdom and answers, often bemoaning the absence of God,  yet is totally deceived that this is from her own hand as she has cut off God’s soul nourishment intended to help her thrive in these times. Circumstances or other people become the focus of and reason for her problems. Solutions come from practical strategies or dependence on other people instead of God and His truth.

The damage of this prolonged spiritual anorexia is two-fold;  proactively, there is an absence of the truth and wisdom needed to face all of life’s situations and callings, which is accumulated over time.  And defensively, this amortized yield (of God’s truth imbibed consistently over weeks, months, and years) which is a deep well from which to draw in times of temptation, suffering,  and loss, is lacking.  Like strong muscles and endurance needed for a marathon which one can’t magically make appear 3 days before a race,  God’s comfort  and strength isn’t developed from cursory knowledge or “I wish I knew Him better”  intentions when a gut-punching life event occurs.  The faith & strength to trust God in these times is most readily found in the day in, day out, plodding forward relational aspect of connecting with our Creator God in the pages of His Word.

God wrote to us his love story, instructed us in wisdom, promised hope for the future, and most significantly, reveals Himself in magnificence in the pages of His Word.

Don’t live unconnected. Don’t deprive yourself of the very nourishment upon which your heart, mind, and soul was meant to thrive and grow.  Hook up…and live.

                “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.”                                      Jeremiah 15:16