Faith on Dry Toast

A while ago my husband preached from Psalm 19. As he read about how desirable God’s wisdom was to David, the analogy kind of fell flat to me.

“The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.  More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.”

On both accounts, I’m just not interested.  I don’t care for gold, and I don’t care for honey.  As I listened I almost found myself snarling at the thought of that sweet honey.  “Sweeter also than honey”.   Yuck.  I know I tend to be a picky eater, but I’ve just always thought honey is much too sweet.  To think of something even sweeter than honey makes me shudder.  Someone else can keep the honey.  I’ll stick with my bread and potatoes, and some beef or chicken on the side.  Nothing with too much flavor though.  I like my plate to be tan in color, and subtle to my taste buds.

As my mind drifted to all the foods I like and dislike, I admitted to myself that my tastes were not the norm.  I’m the oddball.  In fact, I don’t even have to guess what others think about my food preferences.  I’m constantly met with raised eyebrows and shocked responses when people find out how picky I am.  “How can you not like cheese?”  “You seriously don’t like dark chocolate?”  “There are thirty one flavors to choose from, and you choose vanilla?”  Oh, yes.  Most people love the sweetest of the sweet foods.  Some people even have to lock up the sweets to keep themselves from indulging a little too much in them.  Sweet honey, to most other people, is enticing.  And I am that crazy woman who is repulsed by the sweetest food they’ve ever tasted.  There must be something wrong with me, right?

“So maybe the Scriptural analogy makes sense,” I thought, “and it’s just me that doesn’t get it.”  As the thought crossed my mind, though, another dark thought came creeping in.  “Perhaps, I’m a better analogy of the world.”  Hmm.  Sure, David desired God’s righteousness even more than this sweet honey, but not many people are like David.  As I look around, I’m not so sure that most people wouldn’t relate more to my tastes than to David’s.

In fact, most Christians today are filling their spiritual plates with dry bread, bland chicken, and pinto beans.  They have enough of Christ to fill their spiritual bellies, but no more.  Nothing too flavorful, nothing too sweet.  Just some plain old comfort food will do.  Truth be told, a lot of modern Christians want a bland spiritual life, though they’d never admit it.  They desire all the warm and fuzzy parts of Christianity, but none of the struggles of faith.  They want church, worship, and fellowship without intimacy, life-change, or accountability.  So they keep things at a basic, lower level.  They can get all the comfort they want from faith, but they won’t have to actually change their lives.  They are threatened by anything that’s too pervasive into their daily life, but they still want the peace, contentment, and fulfillment that is supposed to come from Christ.

I’m convinced this is the one of the crucial reasons that so many Christians have become disillusioned with their faith, and end up walking away from the church completely.  TRUE contentment can ONLY come when we are seeking God and obeying His commands.  We only find the joy of the Lord when we are FULLY handing our lives over to Him.  Yet much of the church still comes to service each Sunday, orders up their faith on dry toast, and then expects a 5-star dinner that will leave them spiritually nourished until next Sunday when they’ll have a few stale worship biscuits that were left over from someone else’s plate.

Sadly, they leave unfulfilled each week without even noticing the buffet line of beautiful fruit and pastries.  They could have chosen to fill their plate with love, joy, and peace.  They could have even filled a to-go box with truth, faith, and accountability, and then feasted on His Word all through the week.  Instead they left empty, knowing they wouldn’t eat again for an entire week.

Let’s look for a faith that isn’t bland.  Let’s dig into His Word and taste every sweet morsel.  Indulge your appetite in Him, and let Him fill you up with the fruit of His Spirit until you begin serving others and feeding the spiritually hungry.  “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  (Psalm 34:8)