For many in America San
Fernando
The
following incident may throw some light on why people like to eat certain bad
foods to their detriment In Feb 2012
the Heart Attack Grill in downtown Las Vegas
lived up to its name Saturday night, when a customer dining on a "triple
bypass burger" suffered an apparent heart attack. The restaurant is
known for not holding back on its menu. Signs around the business glorify bad
eating habits and the menu includes items like Flatliner Fries, and Butterfat
Milkshakes. One meal, the "Quadruple Bypass Burger," contains 8,000
calories. The staff at the Heart Attack Grill
willingly glorifies bad health. If you weigh over 350 pounds, you eat for
free.”[1] It looks like we have a preference for bad food because; as
we've so often observed, bad food seems to taste better than good food. A
Hamburger, McDonald’s creation tastes good but is bad for our health. On the
other hand fruit is God’s gift to mankind and it not only tastes good but is essential
for a healthy life style.
Thankfully our nation has come a long way in recent
years. There is a lot more awareness
about healthy choices. The food habits of many are taking a turn for the better.
At a whole other level, we see a presentation of lifestyle
choices for Christians in Galatians 5th chapter. The Apostle Paul
points out two ways of living and their consequences The first option is to
live according to the flesh or sinful nature. What would that look like? The Message
Bible renders it so poignantly, it is “repetitive, loveless, cheap sex, a
stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless
grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness;
cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never satisfied wants; a brutal
temper(anger), an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided
lives; small minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing
everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and controllable addictions.” (Gal 5:19-21).
The second option however is a spirit filled life. What would
that look like? According to the Message
Bible, “But what happens when we live God’s way. He brings gifts into our
lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection
for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop willingness to stick
with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic
holiness permeates things and people. We
find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in
life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.” What the author of the
Message Bible Eugene Peterson is talking about here, is nothing but what is
familiarly known as the Fruit of the Holy Spirit in Gal 5:22.
Paul opens up Galatians 5th chapter with these
words, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then and do
not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” This verse refers
to all those who are born again, in other words the ones Christ has set free
from the bondage or the slavery to Sin. Paul urges the believers again in Vs
13, “You my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to
indulge the sinful nature.”
When we give our lives over to Christ we have been made free
to choose either to continue to live according to the sinful nature or the
spirit filled nature. The choice we make determines the lifestyle and our
destiny. Paul clearly shows the difference between these two lifestyles in Gal
5:16-18 “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of
the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the
Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in
conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are
led by the Spirit you are not under law.”
By urging the believers to live by the Spirit and not to
gratify the desires of the flesh in a sense Paul is saying to them to say, "no
thanks" to these "works" of the flesh, despite their great appeal
to our fleshly palates. Let's be real here, we may very well abstain from
sexual immorality and sorthos of addictions but how about hot temper or anger?
Let’s
talk about anger. As we know anger is a very powerful emotion that can
stem from feelings of frustration, hurt, annoyance, or disappointment. It is a
normal human emotion that can range from slight irritation to strong rage. We
need to know how to properly channel this powerful emotion. When we suppress
anger as one report suggests, “Suppressed anger can
be an underlying cause of anxiety and depression. Anger that is not appropriately
expressed can disrupt relationships, affect thinking and behavior
patterns, and create a variety of physical problems. Chronic (long-term) anger
has been linked to health issues such as high blood pressure, heart problems, headaches, skin disorders, and digestive problems. In
addition, anger can be linked to problems such as crime, emotional and physical
abuse, and other violent behavior.”[2]
How can
we overcome the devastating effects of anger? It is only possible by
cultivating the fruit of the Spirit. Coming back to our food analogy, the fruit of
the Spirit is a slow food, not fast food; good food, not bad food. In other
words it is never going to be a hamburger.
A
hamburger is an entree that is cooked, wrapped and rushed to a ravenous
customer in a matter of minutes. And even if it were, it is not the fast prep
time we're concerned with here, but the nutrition value and eating time. On the
other hand the fruit of the Spirit is a lifestyle that takes time to cultivate
and develop. We'll need to cultivate and nurture spiritual gifts such as
generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These fruits won't
sprout up quickly, and they won't be ripe and ready overnight. In
fact, converting to a fruit-full
lifestyle takes a life time of discipline and obedience to the promptings of
the Holy Spirit.
For
example; part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit is “Patience” We live in a
fast-paced world. We drive fast cars. We eat fast food. We live in the fast
lane. We want it now. This is an oft-repeated, clichéd set of sentences.
However, this is the truth. Most of us know what we
want and we wish we could have it ‘yesterday.’ In order to be successful in the
work place we need to be patient because we often deal with less than perfect
people, machines and ideal situations. They often don’t do what they supposed
to do. If you are impatient you get frustrated; tempted to curse, or blow your
top and in the end give up rather quickly. Loosing your patience perhaps is not
a very good thing. That is why some one said, “Patience is the mother of all
virtues”
What is
patience? Patience does not entail just waiting. It doesn’t mean resigning to
our fate. It means bearing with difficulty and troubles while doing so taking
the necessary steps to do the next right thing, or waiting with a good
attitude. The scriptures show us why we
need patience and how we can develop this all too important virtue.
Prov 15:18, “A hot tempered man
stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel.” In the Message Bible
it reads, “Hot tempers start fights; a calm and cool spirit keeps the peace.”
Romans 12:12, “Be joyful in
hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Eph: 4:2, “Be completely humble
and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
Here is
a sure path that helps us develop patience. Prov 19:11 “A man’s wisdom gives him
patience.” How do we become wise? Pro 9:10, “The fear of the LORD is the
beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” What is
the fear of the Lord? To fear the LORD is to hate evil.” Another way God
develops patience in us by letting us go through suffering and difficult
situations. James 1:2-4, “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and
challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your
faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to
get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and
well developed, not deficient in any way.”
We
realize that developing patience for that matter any good habits can be a slow
process at times but in the end it yields great profits in our lives. Are you on a “Hamburger, fast food” diet, or on the slow
food/good food diet? Selecting the slow
food, fruit option,
allows us, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to gain control over our lives. We
do not have to be victims of our schedules, no matter how harried and driven we
feel. We are in control of deciding how fast we have to go in life. Remember
what Paul said to the Galatians: "For freedom Christ has set us free.
Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery" (v.
1).
In closing,
the art of Christian living is choosing a "slow-faith" rather than a
"fast-faith" approach to living. This living requires a community.
Christianity is based on a shared Communion meal and life together in the body
of Christ - not on fast-faith pit stops and individualistic approaches to the
Christian life. It is within the community that Paul challenges us to become
"slaves to one another" through love, resisting the temptation to use
our Christian freedom "as an opportunity for self-indulgence" (v.
13). It's
like the Italian theologian said: Fast food lacks "the community aspect of
sharing." God is calling us to make a lifestyle change. It starts by giving up the “Hamburger life
style” and cultivating the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Amen
