Monday, March 23, 2015
Eating Rocks
He grew up normal. His favorite foods were pizza, hamburgers and
chili. Then one day his four-year-old
friend changed his life forever. It was
nearly supper time and they had been playing hard. Their stomachs were growling
and churning, begging to be satisfied. Dinner seemed far away and his friend
asked an intriguing question: "Have
you ever eaten rocks?"
Partly out of curiosity and partly because of
silliness, he scooped up a handful of smooth pea-sized playground rocks,
marched to the drinking fountain, and began tossing the rocks in his mouth and
washing them down with long swigs of water .
The effect was immediate
and satisfying. No more churning and growling. This new diet settled heavily in his stomach,
reassuring it that all was well. In one
stroke of genius, he had discovered a food source that was free, required no
baking or condiments, eliminated the need for chewing, and it seemed to satisfy
those pesky feelings of hunger so much more effectively than the dreaded
vegetables his mother was forever plotting to force into his life. He determined then and there that he had discovered
something his old-fogie parents were too bigoted and closed-minded to embrace,
and that from that day forward he would feast in the playground and slip his
mother's concoctions to the dog.
If that story were true,
you can imagine the painful, or possibly lethal, ramifications. In the physical world such foolishness is
easily spotted and the effects force the necessary corrections. However, emotional and spiritual hunger are
much trickier. People can make very bad
choices when trying to find affection or meaning in life. And there are so many
hucksters looking to swindle the unsuspecting.
For example, a person
who hungers for affection might latch onto someone who gives them a little
attention, but whose selfish motives eventually bring them more harm than good.
Instead of finding a healthy relationship or true love, they settle for
codependency, a shallow physical relationship, or worse. They eat rocks. The ramifications are painful and
destructive.
Just as a four-year-old
may not understand a parent's lecture about eating rocks, our society seems
intolerant of those who warn against unhealthy choices made by people seeking
to satisfy spiritual and emotional hunger.
But, in hopes that one or two people may benefit, let me be plain about
some of those unhealthy options.
- Hunger for love satisfied by sex outside of marriage - rocks.
- Hunger for peace satisfied by drugs or alcohol - rocks.
- Hunger for spirituality satisfied by anything other than a relationship with Jesus - rocks.
- Hunger for approval satisfied by pleasing people - rocks.
God created physical
hunger -- it insures our survival. Life
will teach us the best items for satisfying that hunger. God also created us to hunger for love and
purpose. That hunger is most perfectly
satisfied by a healthy relationship with God and others. He gave us prayer and church to satisfy our hunger for
fellowship. He promised to fill people
with His Spirit so they would have inner strength to deal with life. He told us that if we would lose our lives in
Him we would discover abundant life.
Everything else is rocks.
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