Spiritual Junk Food

Not long ago I read about a personal trainer who was in perfect shape. He ate the right foods and loved to exercise. But most of his clients were overweight, and he couldn’t really relate to what they were going through.

To better understand their struggles, he decided to intentionally gain 70 pounds. He started by changing his diet. Instead of his usual healthy food, he ate fattening foods. It was exhilarating to him because at first there was no difference in his body. He still looked good.

But then he started to notice some changes. First to go were his abs. Then he started getting flabby. He found that his blood pressure was going up, and he was tired all the time. He felt lethargic and depressed.

To me this is a picture of what it’s like in the Christian life when we start going in the wrong direction spiritually. Instead of nourishing ourselves with the message of God’s Word, we fill our lives with spiritual junk food.

We all have those moments when we stumble, when we trip up, when we make the wrong decision, when we think that wrong thought and need to repent. When this happens, we need a spiritual reboot. We need to be revived and refreshed.

The Bible tells us, “The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7 NLT).

If you want to be a growing Christian, if you want to produce spiritual fruit, then you need to be a Bible studying Christian.

As believers, we are either progressing or regressing. We are either going forward or going backward. And the moment we stop our forward momentum is the moment we begin our backward regression.