Can This Count As A Vegetable?

Can this Count as a Vegetable? 

I’ve always had an appreciation for my husband’s ability to read, process, and articulate his thoughts.  However, as is often the case with intelligent people, sometimes they find the more mundane things of life are well…mundane and therefore give them less attention than they might otherwise give them.  For instance, I was amazed when we’d been married for several years and he still called my slip by the wrong name.  To this day, he really doesn’t care if the green vegetable on his place is called asparagus or broccoli.  Simple jokes sometimes cause his eyes to glaze over because he’s searching for some deeper meaning.  I, on the other hand, laugh at something silly while my eyes glaze over at deep, legal conversations.

Recently, Keith and I had just such an episode; in which I realized food groups fell into the category of “no interest” to him.  We had both decided to make some adjustments in our eating habits.  While dining at a restaurant, Keith leaned across the table and with a roll in his hand, asked, “This could count as a vegetable, couldn’t it?  It’s made from grain.” 

As much as I would have liked to have scolded him for trying to sneak in a roll, I had to laugh.  “Good try!”  I replied.  “No. It is not a vegetable.”

Perhaps you can relate, if not on the roll/vegetable issue, in another area.  Have you ever found yourself wanting to call “sin” something that it’s not?  Have you ever wanted to chew on anger toward someone and called it “just thinking”? Have you ever held in your hand something that didn’t belong to you and called it “yours”?  Have you perhaps feasted on getting ahead at someone else’s expense and called it “friendly competition”?  Have you justified a diet of unkindness, by saying it “grew from what someone did to you?” 

 Although we may call a sin a pretty name or “socially acceptable,” God isn’t fooled.  He knows sin groups just as we know food groups.  And, as health care professionals expect us to know food groups and make choices beneficial to our health, God expects us to know sin groups and make choices beneficial to our spirit.

What sin groups should we cautiously avoid according to Exodus 20:1-26?

Elevating people and things above God

Taking God’s name in vain, using it carelessly

Not setting aside a day as holy to the Lord

Not honoring our fathers and mothers

Murder

Adultery

Stealing

Lying

Coveting

We may call our words “stretching the truth,” but God calls them lies.  We may justify our sin by saying it grew in a garden of innocence.  However, God looks at what’s in our hand, not where it started. 

What might God be saying to us?  If we’re really serious about our spiritual health, then we shouldn’t hold sin in our hand.  If we find it’s already in our hand, we shouldn’t try to justify it.  Rather, we should call it what it is and put it down like a fattening roll.  We should take hold of all the other options God provides, the choices that are healthy for our spirits. 

Until next time, be mindful of what’s in your hand.  Don’t take that bite if it’s not going to contribute to the spiritual health for your soul.  “Thou shall have no other gods before Me,” Exodus 20:3.