In recent years, our family has become more health conscious. We pay a little more attention to the nutrition labels and facts on products before we buy and consume them.
And with good reason, because our physical health is important to us.
Some of the key things we’ll look for are:
- Sodium content
- Sugar content
- Saturated fat content
- Calories per serving
But here’s an equally valid concern… How much do we pay attention to our spiritual health?
Dennis Rainey at Family Life illustrated this well by presenting this challenging thought – What if we were to focus the same amount of time and energy measuring the spiritual content of the things we take into our hearts and minds as we do into our bodies?
While taking care of our bodies is important, isn’t our spiritual health even more important than our physical health?
In contrasting the two, Paul said in I Timothy 4:8 “For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.” (He’s basically saying that while our physical well being is important to maintain, our spiritual well being will pay off far greater dividends.)
So… what if we treated every TV show we watched, every book we read, every friend we allowed our kids to have by first taking notice of how those things rate in comparison to the spiritual health label that really matters – the Bible?
What if we took time reading the nutrition labels that matter most by looking for how much of these key ingredients we could find:
- Truth
- Purity
- Holiness
- Forgiveness
- Respect
- Morality
Sadly, much of what we consume on a daily basis is often fighting strongly against our spiritual health and well being, causing us to be weak and malnourished in our walk with God.
Maybe it’s time for us to just get back to the one source that holds all the recommended daily nutrition we need – the Bible, and fill up on more of the good stuff!
This is a question worth answering – “How much Bible is in your family’s regular daily diet?” Too much or too little? I find it hard to think it’s the first.
Are we really taking time to read the “labels” on what we’re allowing our family to consume that will affect them mentally, emotionally, and especially spiritually?
Maybe it’s time that we start paying a little closer attention to the nutrition labels that really matter the most.
I Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
