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We are what we eat
Most of us realize that eating food makes
our bodies grow. Food on the table won't help us grow we must put
it in our mouths, chew and metabolize it before it is beneficial.
When
young children make a fuss about eating, a wise parent doesn't
force it down their throats, but instead will attempt to make the
food more attractive. Then by extending patience and using good
common sense, the parent will be able to persuade the child to
take nourishment.
This same principle is true when it comes
to eating spiritual food. A believer in the Lord Jesus Christ may
consistently be taught by an excellent pastor-teacher, but unless
he personally desires to listen to and receive God's Word, believe
what is taught and metabolize it, the doctrine he hears will not
give him the energy he needs to grow up spiritually. The
principles and doctrines the believer digests will be stored for
use when needed in the thinking part of the mind, which is
generally called 'the heart' in scripture. Merely storing up
information and not using it would be like buying food, putting it
on a shelf but never eating it. |
Just as certain foods can cleanse our bodies, taking in
Bible Doctrine, which 1 Corinthians 2:16 says is the mind of Christ,
will get rid of the garbage in our soul that damages our thought
pattern. Therefore, Isaiah 55:8 commands us to fill our mind with
God's thoughts rather than with the human viewpoint of the world,
which is contrary to Divine Viewpoint.
Physical food consists of proteins, fats and carbohydrate. Spiritual
food also has various components. In order to give believers a correct
understanding of God's Word, the man who has the gift of
pastor-teacher must know the original languages of scripture and be
able to teach the Bible dispensationally, categorically,
exegetically and historically. If these guidelines are ignored,
believers will be given human viewpoint and false teaching.
We are commanded in 2 Timothy 2:15 to
"study to show ourselves approved by God, and to be workmen who are
not ashamed, but to rightly divide the Word of Truth." In order to
obey that command, it is absolutely necessary that we become oriented
to the time in which we are living. In His infallible Word, God has
revealed, by many portions and in different ways, His perfect design
for the history of mankind. (Hebrews 1:1) Theologians call these
portions of God's Word DISPENSATIONS.
You and I are living in the 21st century,
and we would certainly be out of place if we tried to live the way
people did hundreds or even thousands of years ago, yet many believers
are being taught that rules given to a group of God's people in the
past are still for us today. For example, it is important that we
understand that the Ten Commandments were given to the Jews of the
exodus generation to identify what God considers to be sin. The Lord
also gave rules for them to follow regarding their food, family life
and social life in order to set them apart from all other nations ...
the gentiles.
No matter how people tried in those days
or since that time, they have not been able to follow God's Ten
Commandments perfectly, because of their sinful nature. In 1 Timothy 1
:15, the apostle Paul called himself the worst sinner who ever lived,
because he was so religious. In Romans 2:7-11 Paul said he didn't
understand his sin nature until the 10th commandment showed him how
covetous he was. Also, in Romans 3:20 he tells us that the purpose of
'The Law' was to reveal man's sinfulness. If it were possible for
anyone to keep nine of the commandments, he would still fail to keep
the 10th one ... "Thou shalt not covet." Only Jesus Christ, the
God-Man, was able to fulfill all the requirements of the Law during
His 3-year ministry on earth, because He had no sin nature.
BE SURE TO COMPARE THE THINGS YOU HEAR WITH
WHAT THE SCRIPTURE TEACHES.
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