Tag Archives: Profane

The Holy and the Profane

October 28, 2024 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

“I had concern for my holy name, which the people of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone.”
Ezekiel 36:21 (NIV)

Growing up, my mother had a set of fine china and a “silver service” of tableware that was actually silver and had to be polished. The entire set was kept in a special box. It only came out on very special occasions. You knew that when mom broke out the fine china a very special meal was about to take place. It was an event.

Imagine, if you will, a Twilight Zone-esque scenario in which I needed to feed our dog, Tuffy. So, I broke open the box of my mom’s fine china and grabbed one of the large plates along with one of her silver serving spoons. I popped open a can of that nasty-looking brown stuff you feed dogs and I dug that gunk out of the can with mom’s silver spoon onto the fine china plate and then threw it on the floor for the dog. Just as I do this my Mom walks in and sees what I’ve just done. How do you think she would have reacted? You are correct, I would very quickly have been living outside in the kennel with Tuffy. Fortunately, I knew better than to feed the dog with mom’s fine china.

Along life’s road, I had heard the word “profanity” many, many times. Usually, it had to do with “bad words” that I wasn’t supposed to use. I was in college before I learned that “profanity” means to “empty something of its meaning.” I’ll never forget watching Professor McFadzean miming the action of dumping something upside down and spilling its contents on the floor. You take something meaningful and treat it as if it’s meaningless.

Taking mom’s fine china and feeding Tuffy with it is the act of profaning it. It has a very special meaning for my mother. It’s exclusive, meant only for rare occasions to serve the finest food for the most worthwhile moments in life. Feeding the dog with it empties it of that meaning. It profanes it.

Back in Exodus, when God revealed Himself to Moses from the burning bush, God told Moses His name: “Yahweh” which means “I Am.” God told His people that this name was holy. It was special. It was sacred. Therefore, they never uttered it. It was too holy to even speak it.

In today’s chapter, God through Ezekiel proclaims that one day He is going to bring all of His people back from exile to the land of Israel. Jerusalem would be rebuilt. God’s people and the land would once again prosper with life. But then God repeatedly tells them that the Hebrew exiles have profaned His name among the nations where they are living in exile. They took something holy and sacred and metaphorically threw it on the ground and stomped on it. He goes on to tell them that when He brings the exiles home and restores the land He is doing it for the sake of His Holy name. In other words, it’s not because God’s people earned it or deserved it. It’s because God is a holy God, love incarnate and full of grace.

In the quiet this morning, I find my mind going down two trails of thought. The first is very simple and straightforward as it relates to what I’ve known to be profanity my entire life. I find it fascinating that in our culture the name of Jesus Christ is used as common swear words. We don’t do that with Buddha, Mohammed, or Krishna. But people routinely take the name that “is above all names” and the name at which demons flee and at which scripture says “every knee will bow and every tongue confess.” We take that name and use it as an empty, meaningless, momentary exclamation of everyday anger. That’s profane to the core.

The other trail my mind went down is to think about what Jesus did for all of us. What God is proclaiming to His people in exile is very much a foreshadowing of what He will do through Jesus. Not restoring and redeeming land and a city, but restoring and redeeming our hearts and souls through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Not because we deserve it or somehow earned it, but because He is Love and full of grace.

And that is holy.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Slandered

September 30, 2024 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

But for the sake of my name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.
Exodus 20:14 (NIV)

I have a vivid memory of being at a high school football game. While at the game I happened to strike up a conversation with a kid from another school who was hanging out with friends from our school. There was a natural affinity between the two of us and I ended up introducing myself to him.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of you,” he said. “You’re the guy who always calls the cops and tells them where the parties are to get people in trouble.”

Apparently my reputation as an outspoken follower of Jesus and my lack of participation in said parties led to me being scapegoated as the snitch anytime a party got raided. I was shocked by this since it was utterly false, but it would not be the last time it happened.

Throughout my life journey, I have experienced seasons in which I found out that I was the object of slander which is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as “a false and malicious statement or report about someone.” It is never fun, but it has taught me three important life lessons. First, positions of leadership of any kind in any human system inherently come with a target on your back. Second, you can’t control what other people say about you, and running around trying to do so is a fool’s errand. Finally, and most importantly, I am called to simply press on following in the footsteps of Jesus and His example of operating daily in the fruit of the Spirit. This includes, of course, forgiving and blessing those who slander you.

“Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re talking about.”

In today’s chapter, God gives the elders of Israel a message through Ezekiel in which He walks them through the history of His covenant relationship with them. There’s a repetitive cycle in which God gives them His guidelines for life, they refuse to follow the guidelines, and God acts in response to their unfaithfulness. In each case, He states that their slanderous rejection of Him “profaned” His name. Zeke even makes mention of specific instances in which Kings of Israel took God’s specific guideline to consecrate the firstborn and twisted it into justification for actual pagan child sacrifice. And in each case God acts and responds “for the sake of my name.” In other words, the actions of His people were slanderous, but God continued to press on being God. As Paul described it to Timothy, “When we are faithless, God is faithful because He can’t help but be who He is.”

In the quiet this morning, I spent some time thinking back on my own seasons and acts of unfaithfulness to both God and others. I asked God for forgiveness, and thanked Him for both His faithfulness and forgiveness. Then, I thought of specific individuals who I know have slandered me over the years, consciously choosing (once again) to forgive them, and praying a blessing over them. That’s what Jesus has gratefully done for me ceaselessly. How can I not do the same?

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Profane

June 21, 2023 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

“But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled,’ and, ‘Its food is contemptible.’”
Malachi 1:12 (NIV)

Having just finished the prophecies of Jeremiah and the events of Jerusalem’s destruction on this chapter-a-day journey, I’m going to travel in time 150 years to the future. I’m going to spend the next few days back in Jerusalem around 430 B.C.. Taking a quick view of the landscape, I notice the contrast to the rubble I left behind at the end of Jeremiah.

The walls of Jerusalem have been rebuilt. People are once again living inside the walls of the city. Many have returned to their homeland from exile in Babylon. It’s certainly not the splendor of Jerusalem in its glory years, but it’s home. There is a new Temple standing where Solomon’s Temple once stood. It, also, is not quite the same. Solomon’s Temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. This Temple is, well, functional if not awe-inspiring.

Jerusalem and the surrounding area is now a back-water province of the Persian Empire. There is a Governor in charge. The new temple was finished some 85 years earlier. The walls completed some 30 years earlier. The rebuilding was a monumental task carried out and documented by Ezra (a priest) and Nehemiah (a governor). Exiles returned. The city is back on the map! What a comeback story! Ezra and Nehemiah charged the people to follow the law of Moses, to be faithful in worshipping of God as prescribed in the Law of Moses.

So, as I look around the streets and listen to people talking in the courts of the temple, why is everyone so depressed, so cynical, so…negative?

Enter the prophet Malachi. He is the last of the ancient Hebrew prophets. His four chapters close the door on the period formally known as the Old Testament. After Malachi there will be four hundred years of political upheaval and prophetic silence until we hear the cries of a newborn baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.

Back to the temple courts around 430 B.C. Life is, more-or-less, working. The word functional keeps coming to mind, but not flourishing.

The design God gave the Hebrew people through Moses was an entire system designed to perpetuate life, health, and blessing throughout the entire community and beyond. The temple would be the center of the community. People would honor God, bring their first-fruit offerings and unblemished sacrifices to the temple. The priests and temple workers were provided for through these tithes and offerings and, in turn, blessed and served the people. When everyone puts their heart into it, it works relatively well.

Therein lies the problem.

Witness the people bringing a meager offering to the temple, certainly not the ten percent tithe the law requires. They also bring grain and animals for sacrifice, but that lamb is certainly not the shepherds best. The thing is half-staved and looks to be diseased. The priests go through the motions of accepting the sacrifice, but they certainly don’t want to feed themselves and their family with this farmer’s harvest dregs and diseased, meager livestock.

The system isn’t working. Everyone is going through the motions, but no one’s heart is in it. They hear the promises of Jeremiah and Isaiah of a blessed and abundant restoration under a glorious messiah, but that’s not what they’ve experienced. They’ve lost the faith. They’ve lost hope.

In God’s opening message through Malachi, God addresses the people’s cynical, defensive, and defiant attitudes.

“But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?'” (vs. 2)
“But you ask, ‘How have we showed contempt?'” (vs. 6)
“But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?'” (vs. 7)

God through Malachi goes on to tell the people that what they are doing amounts to “profanity” (vs. 12). To modern readers, “profanity” is synonymous with saying naughty words. But the concept of profanity is much deeper and is differentiated from obscenity or vulgarity. Profanity is when I empty something of its original meaning. If I take my family’s precious and priceless fine china and antique silver spoons and use them to feed a stray dog on the back patio, I’m profaning it. If I take the name of Jesus, who I have chosen to make my Lord and believe to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and believe that someday it will be at that name that every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, and I use his name as a common expletive when I’m pissed off at somebody or something, I’m profaning that name.

In the quiet this morning, I enter the time machine once again and fast forward to present day. I’m in a church building watching people walking in and out on a Sunday morning. I watch myself (welcome to the multi-verse!) entering and leaving worship. I compare myself in worship to my daily life, words, actions, relationships, and attitudes during the week. Is my heart and soul in it? Or, am I just going through the motions? Am I bringing my best to God, or just the leftovers of my time, energy, and resources? You know, the minimum required by my conscience to be free of any guilt and shame?

Does my daily life profane the very faith I profess to believe?

As God says through Malachi in today’s chapter: “I’d rather you just the shut the doors and not even pretend, than simply go through the motions because that’s profane.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Taking a Wrecking Ball to the Edifice Complex of Christianity

January 23, 2020 Tom Vander Well 2 Comments

Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”
Luke 21:5-6 (NIV)

When I was a child, I attended a small neighborhood church that was liturgical in practice. This meant that the sanctuary was laid out in a very specific way that catered to the ancient liturgy. There was a lectern on one side that was “lower” and served common uses such as announcements and a non-clergy member reading scripture or a responsive reading. Then there was a taller lectern on the other side which was only for the reverend to preach his sermon. There was an altar where communion was served which most people in the church believed sacred space. Children were taught to stay away and be careful of offending God by going where we weren’t allowed or treating the space disrespectfully.

As a young man, I attended a giant church that had no such liturgical trappings. In this church, everything was functional. It was all about the audience’s experience. Great lighting and great sound that allowed for a great product. The pastor of this church was rabid about building bigger and better buildings for the weekly show and attracting bigger names to perform in the area.

Along my spiritual journey I’ve had to come to terms with the “edifice complex” I was taught, have witnessed, and in which I confess I have participated. There is definitely something to be said for a nice, functional space for a local gathering to meet, organize, worship, teach, learn, pray, meditate, and serve one another and the community. More about that in a moment.

There is also the spiritual reality that Jesus exemplified and taught. It was a paradigm shift massive as to be difficult for people to believe and embrace 2000 years later. It is simply this: God does not dwell in buildings.

God is omnipresent (that is, everywhere) because Jesus is the force of creation holding the universe together: “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). Jesus said that after his death, resurrection and ascension, He was sending Holy Spirit to dwell in us: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you” (John 14:16-17). Therefore, God’s “Temple” is no longer a place in Jerusalem or a bricks-and-mortar edifice down the street. God’s Temple is the bodies, hearts, minds, lives of those who believe and follow: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19).

For the first few centuries after Jesus’ ascension, local gatherings of believers met in one another’s homes where they shared meals, worshipped, prayed together and supported one another. Some scholars estimate that over a million followers of Jesus were meeting regularly in tens of thousands of homes around the known world.

In 312 A.D. the Roman Emporer Constantine became a Christian and Christianity quickly became the state religion of Rome. The Jesus Movement, almost overnight, became the Holy Roman Empire.

[cue: Star Wars: Vader’s Theme]

Empires are concerned with controlling masses. Controlling masses requires authority that people will respect, follow, serve, and obey. One way to control the masses is to control their religious beliefs and routines. Therefore:

Only “priests” or “ordained clergy” can preach, teach, marry, bury, and absolve you of your sins. (You are a “common” person with no access to God except through the Empirical structures)
Only individuals appointed by the supreme authority and his minions (Caesar, Pope, Cardinal, Bishop) are allowed to be priests or ordained clergy. (You have little hope of becoming clergy unless you jump through many difficult and expensive academic and religious hoops set up by the Empire’s institutions. Probably not unless you know someone or a have a lot of money to bribe, oops, I mean, “donate” to the Empirical authorities – which is how we will wind up with wealthy children and corrupt individuals becoming the Pope)
The words used for teaching and the worship of God will now only be sung, written, read and spoken in Latin, which the uneducated masses will not understand. (This makes it easier for the Empirical religious authorities to control said masses of uneducated followers as they become dependent on the Empirical authorities for everything including knowledge, forgiveness, salvation, the salvation of loved ones prayed out of purgatory, and et cetera [<– that’s Latin, btw])
Worship must now be centered within an opulent, massive, awe-inspiring structure that stands out in the middle of the squalid little local shacks and structures people live in and use for daily business. (The Empirical institution thus reminds people wordlessly, day and night, that both God and the Empirical institution are higher, better, and different than you are in your poor little common life. It is both something for you to ever reach for and something to which you will never reach without the Empirical institution itself making a way for you)

And, that was the beginning of the edifice complex for followers of Jesus. I find it a fascinating contrast to today’s chapter. Jesus is in Jerusalem. It is the last week of His earthly journey. Jesus has spent most of His three-year ministry speaking to crowds on hillsides, fields, and from a boat to throngs of people sitting on the shore. He also spoke in small-town synagogues. His followers of backwater fishermen and men from small towns in Galilee were awed by the massive Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus, however, shrugged it off with the foreknowledge of what would become of it:

“As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”

A couple of thoughts this morning as I ponder these things along side of almost 40 years regularly journeying through God’s Message:

I believe a functional, central location for followers of Jesus to gather is a good thing.
I believe that making meeting spaces beautiful, inviting, welcoming, clean, and efficient are good things, even God-honoring things, for everyone who gathers there.
I believe that architecture is both a highly specialized craft and a creative art form that can powerfully embody and express many things with breathtaking beauty.
I believe that the churches and cathedrals built throughout history are works of art that have much to offer in both history lessons and inspiring us creatively and spiritually.
I also believe that a building can become an object of worship rather than a setting for it.
I don’t believe that a church building, it’s rooms, altars, stained-glass, podiums, and decorations are sacred in any way (though they can be special in many different ways and on many different levels).
I believe that it is the individual human beings of simple and sincere faith who gather within a church building and it is their corporate and collective worship, prayer, and fellowship that are sacred.
I believe that a church building and an institution’s emphasis can subtly convince individuals that they attend the church rather than being the church as Jesus intended.
I have observed very sincere individuals who believe the following, perhaps without giving it much thought: God resides in the church building. I visit God an hour every Sunday to pay respect and spiritually make the minimum premium on my eternal fire insurance policy which, I hope and trust, will get me into heaven and avoid hell. I leave God there at church to go about the other 167/168ths of my week.

This morning I imagine Jesus shrugging as he looks up at the Temple. “It’ll be a rubble heap in about 40 years,” He says to His disciples.

“Then what is sacred? What lasts? What remains?” Simon the Zealot asks.

“You are sacred, as is every person in whom my Spirit dwells,” Jesus replies. “What remains? The faith, hope, and love that is in you and flows out of you, Simon. And all fruit your faith, hope, and love produce in those whom you love. You are my church, Simon. You are God’s temple. And, you are more beautiful than this temple or any building a human being could construct.”

What Jesus actually taught was that when individuals believe and follow, they become living, breathing, active temples of worship in which God’s Spirit dwells. What is sacred and/or profane is what we put in, what flows out and how we relate to God and others from the inside out.

Chapter-a-Day

From Simple Ritual to Complex Regulation

January 3, 2019 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.
1 Corinthians 11:27 (NIV)

On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus and His followers celebrated a ritual meal called the Passover. It is an annual remembrance of the events in the book of Exodus, in which God leads the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt. The ritual meal, also called a Seder, is full of metaphors and word pictures that remind participants of key events and spiritual lessons from the Exodus story. At the time of Jesus, the Passover was already an ancient ritual dating back over a thousand years.

On this night, Jesus creates a new ritual and metaphor for His followers. He simply took a loaf of unleavened bread, broke it, and passed it around for His followers to partake. “This is my body, broken for you,” he said. Then he took a cup of wine and passed it, saying, “This is my blood, shed for you.” Jesus then told His followers to share in this very simple ritual when they get together as a ritual remembrance of the sacrifice He was about to make. The fact that it was done after the Passover meal layers the metaphor with even more meaning. Just as God led the people out of slavery in Egypt, Jesus is establishing a “new covenant” in which He is going to lead humanity out of slavery to sin.

Over time, this relatively simple, ritual metaphor came to be known as Communion, the Lord’s Supper, or Eucharist. As the organism of the early Jesus Movement became the Institution of the Roman church, the ritual became a much more complex religious act layered with all sorts of rules and regulations. It became the centerpiece of worship surrounded by other rituals for how it was done. Only a priest sanctioned by the church could administer it. Those who don’t belong to your particular group of believers were not welcome to participate. And so on, and so on.

As a young follower of Jesus, I was part of a relatively conservative group of believers. I can remember the verse, pasted above, from today’s chapter being used regularly among my particular tribe of believers as a word of warning to young people. It was a religious variation on the Santa Claus principle: “He’s checking his list to see if you’re naughty. You better be good or Santa won’t bring you any gifts.” When it came to communion, we were warned that we better have our hearts right and our lives free from sin or we were putting ourselves at risk of judgement.

As I’ve progressed in my spiritual journey, I’ve largely abandoned the institutional pomp, circumstance, warnings, and regulatory commands that the institutional church has laid on top of Jesus’ simple act. The warning that Paul gave in his letter to the followers of Jesus in Corinth had a very specific context. Believers met and shared a meal together, and then they ended their evening by repeating Jesus’ ritual word picture. In Corinth, some followers were creating cliques, having private meals, and excluding other believers. Some followers were getting drunk on wine and were intoxicated by the time the ritual of the bread and wine was carried out. In both cases, the metaphor of the bread and wine was profaned; It was emptied of meaning by the actions of those believers who shamelessly behaved in a way that diminished the entire meaning of the ritual.

In the quiet this morning I’m reminded that Jesus’ institution of the ritual of communion happened with no commands, rules, or regulations other than to repeat the word picture regularly when believers got together. Jesus didn’t make caveats about it only being administered by approved followers, being an exclusive ritual for only certain institutionally approved persons, or that those partaking had to approach with a certain level of holiness. In fact, the word picture itself is about Jesus sacrificing Himself because we can’t attain acceptable holiness on our own, so why would we suggest that purity and holiness are required to partake in the bread and cup? That profanes the meaning of the ritual as well.

Chapter-a-Day

The Challenge of Words

August 19, 2016 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

“You shall not profane my holy name….”
Leviticus 22:32 (NRSV)

Wall Street Journal columnist, Ben Zimmer, writes a weekly piece in the newspaper’s weekend edition that explores a different word or phrase that has been in the news that week. It’s one of my favorite columns to read over coffee on Saturday mornings.

I have become increasingly fascinated with words as I’ve continued in my life journey. I’m fascinated with their origin, how they become part of our vocabulary, their meanings, and how we use them. I’m intrigued with how our society perceives words as positive or negative, good or bad, acceptable or not acceptable.

Wendy’s and my adventures in community theatre often take us into debates about words. Should we use a word that will likely offend our audience here in rural Iowa? Can we legally change the copyrighted work by using a different word? If we do have the actor use a different word, will it change the play’s character and how the audience perceives him or her? Why would that word offend the audience? Should we risk the offense and challenge our audience to consider their notions about vocabulary? They are challenging questions that prompt fascinating and equally challenging discussions.

Toward the end of today’s chapter God tells the Hebrews not “profane” His name. I was given a definition of the word profane by a professor in college that I’ve never forgotten: “to empty something of its meaning.” I can still remember the word picture as the professor stood in front of the class and mimed turning a cup over in his hand, emptying the contents of the imaginary vessel on the ground.

I’ve always found that an apt understanding of God’s zealous protection of His name. It’s really no different than we as human beings. We don’t like people making fun of our name. We don’t want our name mocked or “drug through the mud.” In Arthur Miller’s classic play, The Crucible, John Proctor tells the witch hunters in Salem to go ahead and kill him unjustly but then begs: “give me my name!”

Of course this opens a fascinating and challenging conversation about the name of God. As a child I was taught never to use the word “God” as in “Oh my god.” But, “god” is a impersonal noun that could refer to your generic pagan idol as it could refer to Yahweh (the name God gave Himself to Moses in Exodus 3). The name “Jesus” is much more specific and it packs all sorts of meaning and power. Jesus told His followers to do all sorts of things from prayers to exorcisms “in my name.” History records many signs and wonders that happened “in the name of Jesus.” If I then turn and use “Jesus” as an exclamation of disgust when the restaurant brought me the wrong order it certainly appears that I’ve taken something of spiritual power and authority, emptied it of its meaning, and used it for common swear word. I’ve profaned it.

This morning I’m once again thinking about words. It’s fun and challenging to debate the particulars of words and their usage. Despite the hairsplitting, it’s obvious that throughout God’s Message I’m reminded that words have power to heal, encourage, and build others up. They also have the power to sully, divide, tear down, and profane. I am reminded that the words we choose should be gracious, wise, and kind. May the words of my mouth always exemplify those basic guidelines.

featured image by dorkmaster via flickr

Chapter-a-Day

The Sour Feeling in My Gut

March 25, 2014 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but ‘in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Revelation 10:9-10 (NIV)

As artists, Wendy and I love stories that are honest and well told, even when the honesty includes characters acting and speaking in ways we would find unacceptable for ourselves. Some people are offended when they hear a single profane word uttered in any context, but it typically doesn’t bother us when a truly profane character in a movie swears on the screen. Profane people say a lot of profane things. We usually roll with it without thinking much of it.

Having said this, there have been many times over the years that Wendy and I have felt spiritually soured when watching television, a movie, or when reading a book. For a couple of years we avidly watched a television program that was, and I’m sure still is, brilliantly written and well acted. It was network television, so there wasn’t anything in the weekly program which we found particularly objectionable. However, one night Wendy mentioned to me that she felt a “sourness” in her spirit watching the show. Coincidentally, I had been feeling the same gross feeling over the course of the previous few weeks, but without being sure why, I hadn’t said anything. To this day, I can’t tell you any one thing that was wrong or objectionable about the show, but in our gut we both felt spiritually gross watching it. So, we stopped.

I love the word picture of God asking John to eat the scroll in today’s chapter. The connection between God’s word and food is a recurring theme throughout God’s Message. For example, Jesus said when tempted to satiate his physical hunger that “man was not made for bread alone, but for every word that comes out of God’s mouth.”

A couple of related takeaways this morning:

There is a difference between reading and digesting. It’s one thing to have a small taste of greens, but popping a pea or two is not going to do you much good. You have to consume the green vegetable in larger portions if you want any health benefit. I have found the same to be true with reading God’s Message. For maximum spiritual health benefit, you can’t just have an occasional taste. It should be fully consumed and digested over time.

Transformation doesn’t take place without significant change, and change is often motivated by discomfort. When you get used to eating a healthier, more balanced diet you soon find that unhealthy things have a discomforting affect on your body and its functions. I don’t like the way I feel after eating all of those sweets or fats, and it motivates me to avoid doing it again. Once I changed my spiritual diet to include regular consumption of God’s Message, I found that I started feeling soured towards spiritually unhealthy things. I still can’t tell you what it was about the television program Wendy and I stopped watching, but the sourness in our spirits told us we needed to cut that program out of our entertainment diet. Call it what you want. I just know that when I something is spiritually off, the sour feeling in my soul motivates me to get things back in line.