Fast Food

How many of you enjoy Burger King or McDonald’s, or a Wendy’s or Hardees, or a KFC or Church’s Chicken? Probably, most of you do. The food, although not the most healthy in the world, tastes good. And, it is really easy to get….you can even drive up to a window, give an order, and stop at another window a few feet ahead and start consuming those delicious calories, carbs and fats. We call this stuff, Fast Food.

I want to talk briefly about God’s Word being food, but not necessarily ‘fast’. John the revelator, wrote in his letter which appears first of all of his in the Bible, the following: "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”

This task, even for Jesus, was hardly accomplished rapidly. But as you read the following Scriptures, you are reminded that the words spoken by God, even through man, are really food….food intended to be ingested slowly. This is something to be taken for our health, not our detriment. Most fast foods ARE detrimental to our physical health. We eat the fatty foods because they taste good….we neglect the nutritious foods a lot because they may not be so tasty. Matthew 4:4 (and similar to Luke 4:4), “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”, says it all. In Hebrews 5:12, the writer writes that “You need milk, not solid food!”. He was referring to the Word of God and to instruction in that word. If we gobble down unhealthy words, those usually spoken by preachers seeking dishonest gain, we hurt our spiritual bodies. We need to consume slowly what is taught to us, and digest it to make sure it is correct. The Bereans certainly didn’t drive up to Micky-D’s at midnight and grab a burger to go….no, they took their food home with them and researched to make sure what they were being taught was the correct food for them to eat.

The author of the 119^th Psalm talked about the Word of God being anything but fast food.

In verse 87, David wrote that he likes to meditate on God’s Word all day long. Just imagine. Doing that, running a kingdom, dodging bullets (well, spears anyway) from his enemies, and all the rest that he endured, yet still desiring to think intently about God all day.

Without going into a long dissertation why God’s Word should be consumed in a manner which would please even Judith Martin (aka Miss Manners), I offer this acronym to help you slow down and understand what you are consuming.

Meet God in prayer about His Word, before starting your study of it.

Equip yourself with several references to research what you were fed.

Divide your study into smaller bites, one subject at a time.

Imagine yourself feeding this same food to others—how would they take it?

Tomorrow, study it again.

Ask somebody else if they understood everything the way you did.

Thank God for answering your prayer for understanding His Word.

Examine those Scriptures that seem contradictory to the food you were given.

By slowing down and understanding God’s Word, you will be a much better Christian. It probably has no affect on your salvation, but it CAN on others, as you will then be prepared, in season and out, to preach this food to those who are starving for it.

Mac