What Are You Feeding?

I was listening to a wonderful podcast from Ellel Ministries in the series ‘Let’s Talk with Andy and Cath Taylor’, entitled ‘Being Human’. During the podcast Andy and Cath chat about how we need the Lord to help us fight against our carnal nature. Andy encourages us to put off the old man and to reckon our carnal nature as dead. He says: “Don’t feed it. Don’t look at it. We don’t get free of it till we’re with Jesus, but we are supposed to kill that sucker every day of our life.”

I love the way Andy worded this, as it made me realise how intentional we need to be. We are not to just wake up every day and get on with our life, accepting the sinful attitudes and habits we may have, or even just finding excuses for entertaining them. We need to make a deliberate decision to acknowledge the wrong in our life, to turn from sin, and to work towards becoming more like Jesus; to stop feeding our carnal nature - whatever that may look like in our life.
The image that came to my mind was of my latest endeavour in making my own starter for sourdough baking. I have been very intentional about the process; reading up as much as I can, ‘feeding’ my starter every morning and often checking on it for signs that it was fermenting properly. My commitment came from the desire to succeed in my endeavour and it subsequently brought much joy - not only for myself, but also for my family who have been happy to taste my first loaves of sourdough bread!

The question that came to mind, while listening to the podcast, was how intentional was I in turning from sin in my life? Feeding sourdough starter results in a positive outcome, but ‘feeding’ of a wrong attitude or habit brings about a negative outcome - not only for ourselves, but also for the people in our lives.

In 1 Corinthians 15:34, Paul writes: “Be sober-minded [be sensible, wake up from your spiritual stupor] as you ought, and stop sinning; for some [of you] have no knowledge of God [you are disgracefully ignorant of Him, and ignore His truths] (AMP).

I am feeding my sourdough starter because I want it to continue growing, but which sinful habits or attitudes am I also ‘feeding’? Whatever is fed will grow - either for good, or for bad. ‘Don’t live the way this world lives. Let your way of thinking be completely changed’ (Romans 12:2a, NIRV).

Ultimately, it’s up to us to choose which path we want to be on. If we are feeling convicted about something in our life, we need to talk to the Lord about it. These wrong ways are often our own defence or coping mechanisms which are born out of a need to protect ourselves, or to fill an unmet need. Let’s be honest, confess, repent, and ask for the Lord’s forgiveness and for His healing from whatever is keeping us in sin.

He will never condemn us: ‘For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore boldly come to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need’ (Hebrews 4:15-16, NKJV).