Be Careful What You Consume

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. - Proverbs 4:23

Well hello friend! It’s good to be back! If you are a regular reader of these devotions, you probably noticed that I didn’t post any new content on Thursday or Friday of last week. What started out with some technical difficulties and ended with a round of food poisoning, the end of my week last week did not got at all as planned, hence the gap in my content creation schedule. But I do appreciate you showing up and reading once again even when I fail to be as consistent as I want to be. I’m super grateful for the extra grace!

As I was laying in bed over the weekend drinking Diet Coke and nibbling on saltine crackers, I had plenty of time to think. And one of the things I was thinking about was how I couldn’t believe I had gotten food poisoning after what I had eaten the day before. I went to Longhorn Steakhouse with my mom, sister, and grandmother for a late lunch and ordered what I always do: parmesan crusted chicken, a side salad, a diet coke, and plenty of bread and butter. It was a fantastic meal, and nothing tasted weird or out of the ordinary.

But it didn’t take long after we left the restaurant for me to realize something was seriously wrong. And for the next two days I suffered the consequences of eating something that clearly did not agree with my body.

As I was recapping the series of events that landed me in bed, I couldn’t help but draw the parallel to other areas of life where we consume things we shouldn’t. Maybe for you it’s inappropriate media - music, videos, movies, shows, etc. - and watching and listening to those things has a negative effect on your thoughts, your words, and your actions.

Maybe you’re finding yourself spending time with the wrong people, whether that means you’re choosing friends who aren’t good influences or you’re dating someone you know you shouldn’t be with. And the more time you spend with them, the more unlike yourself you become.

Or maybe the bad things you’re consuming are your own words. Maybe you stand in front of the mirror every morning and criticize what you see, tearing yourself down piece by piece, causing your confidence, your security, and your peace about how God created you to crumble.

I honestly don’t think we realize how drastically what we consume affects us. We overestimate our ability to compartmentalize and we underestimate the enemy’s tactics to focus our minds on things that aren’t pure, aren’t lovely, aren’t uplifting, and, most importantly, aren’t honoring to the Lord.

But as I learned in a very painful and very literal way after having food poisoning this weekend, when we consume things that aren’t good for us, those bad things will resurface. They affect the way we talk, the way we act, the way we think, and the way we relate to others. They also affect our confidence in the Lord by instilling doubt, increasing suspicion, and initiating thoughts that we can handle things on our own. And we all know that things never turn out well when we try to handle things on our own, right?

This is why it’s so important that we monitor what we’re consuming. And by that I mean, we should not only be making sure we are NOT taking in bad things, but we should also make sure we ARE taking in good things, like reading God’s Word, spending time in Christian community, and talking to God in prayer. It’s the wisdom, encouragement, and faith we pull from these good things that we want to regurgitate (you’re welcome for that gross word, but it makes the point).

So I hope that if, as you read this devotion, the Holy Spirit brought something to your mind that you know you shouldn’t be consuming, that you would repent of that today and ask the Lord to start helping you consume things that are honoring to Him. Ask Him to help you draw closer to Him, His words, and His wisdom when you’re tempted to consume something you know isn’t good for you, and ask Him to give you strength as you fight the temptation to go back to old things you know aren’t what’s best for you. I promise you, that’s a prayer He would absolutely love to answer.