The Virtue of Bacon, Part 3

Ho, all who are thirsty,
Come for water,
Even if you have no money;
Come, buy food and eat:
Buy food without money, Wine and milk without cost.

Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
Your earnings for what does not satisfy?
Give heed to Me,
And you shall eat choice food
And enjoy the richest viands.

Incline your ear and come to Me;
Hearken, and you shall be revived.
And I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
The enduring loyalty promised to David (Isaiah 55:1-3).

How many of you know there is a difference between being alive and being in good health? How many of you know there is a difference between the average church-goer and a Mother Theresa, or between the average Christian and a Billy Graham? There is only one thing, only one thing that makes all the difference: The difference is in what they eat.

You see, many of us have settled for spiritual junk food. Many of us have taken to a steady diet of McJesus burgers, with Super-Sized-Father Fries, and a 44oz Holy Spirit Coke. Many of us are complaining about being spiritually flabby, (or scrawny).

My question to you is what have you been eating? What have you been feeding your soul? This is not where you want to be fasting. I have arranged for a visual here that I think will bring the point home to you.

The Twinkie. There are several virtues to the common Twinkie, they are sweet, small and convenient, they never go bad…ever. But you can’t live off on a diet of Twinkies. Yet spiritually speaking many of us are trying to get by on “spiritual Twinkies.” If the vast majority of your spiritual food is coming from watching reruns of Touched By an Angel or 7^th Heaven then you are trying to get by on a spiritual diet of Twinkies. Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t watch those shows. How many of you remember Michael Landon’s show Highway to Heaven? I watched that show. I was real into it. But that show is the essence of “spiritual twinkieness.” You cannot get spiritually healthy on a steady diet of Twinkies.

The TV dinner. Now, many of us have figured out the limitations of the Twinkie diet and have moved up to better fare. TV dinners are definitely a step up from Twinkies. They consist of meat, potatoes, veggies and maybe a brownie to satisfy the hunger for sweet things that the Twinkie was addressing so well. These are quick, easy, low commitment dinners. You don’t have to think much about getting them ready. And when you’re done you can throw out the tray they came in as well, no clean up. But let’s face it; these are more the appearance of healthy foods than healthy foods themselves. The meat is processed. The thing has been sitting for months in your grocer’s freezer, away from the air. Then we nuke it, probably killing the last visages of healthy stuff in it.

If we were honest I think we would admit that this is where many Christians are today. We want simple, low commitment, packaged spirituality that comes in 15 minutes a day or less. We love the Chicken Soup for the Soul books, 30 Days to spiritual blessing, and quick 90-second devotionals we can read with our morning coffee. I am not against reading 15 minutes a day or 90-second devotionals. I give away copies of My Utmost for His Highest and Morning and Evening all the time. But you are only going to get so far spiritually speaking if that is all you are ever eating. How many of you can honestly tell me that you could eat this dinner every day for 10 years and not have some serious health issues? Many of you have been doing that spiritually and are wondering why you don’t feel right.

Most of us have settled for one of these things. Maybe we are ignorant of God’s grace. Maybe we are just following the crowd. Maybe we have let things in our lives become so frantic and full of busyness that we just don’t want to take the time or the energy to do anything more.

The Turkey Dinner. This is what God wants to introduce you to. Twinkies and TV dinners have their place, but this is what God is describing to you in our passage today. The richest of fare, the richest of viands. Do you know what “viand” means? It means the choicest food. The word in the Hebrew they are translating is the word fat. Literally the sentence reads, “Your soul will eat and be delighted in fatness.”

Did you know that your body is designed to smell fat? It seeks it out. That’s not a result of the Fall or the American culture. You’re made that way. When you smell bacon cooking in the morning, you get hungry because your body is reacting to the smell of fat! That’s why this turkey smells so good! It’s the fat, the butter, the oil…it’s filling the air! Your body needs a certain amount of fat and oil to work right so when it smells it, it will often make you hungry for it. You may not be able to eat a lot of bacon here, but when it comes to your spiritual body, you can eat all the bacon you want!

Now, if I were going to ask you which of these dinners you would want the most would any of you would pick the turkey? Why do we settle for Twinkies and TV dinners when God has this on the menu? I think Whitney Phipps said it best (a popular gospel singer). He said “The biggest chink in the Christian’s armor today is that they think God is important—but not everything.” I think he hit the nail right on the head, don’t you agree?

I want to challenge you to start feeding yourself God’s viands! Get out that Bible and read it. Pray. Find someone you look up to spiritually and ask them to mentor you in your walk with Christ. Do the same for someone else you know. Be thankful. Be forgiving. Pursue humility. Grow in your knowledge of God and practice what you know. You will be so glad you did.

Prayer

Dear God, We admit to You our spiritual weakness. We are not the faithful servants you want us to be yet. We echo the confession that Rich Mullins sang, “Oh Lord I know that Joshua made the sun stand still in the sky, but I still can’t keep my thoughts of you from passing by. No, we are not as strong as we think we are.” We admit that You are important, but hesitate to call You everything. And that hesitation has kept us from experiencing all the love and joy You have waiting for us. Forgive us. Create in us a taste, a desire, and a hunger for Your presence and blessing. Ignite in us a burning, and a passion, for listening to and learning from Your Word. Amen.