January 2, 2020
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Now when you go food shopping it isn't as simple as it used to be. But that's a good thing, because you have to take time to read the labels. You don't just grab and run. Now, you think about it, we can find out now what's really in that cereal or those cookies or whatever. We're starting to realize more that what we eat has a lot to do with how healthy we are. And maybe how long we live. There's a lot of damaging ingredients hidden in some of that food, like for example, fat grams! Before we buy something, we've got to know about the fat grams in it and a whole lot of other things. I mean, who needs that stuff keeping your blood from your heart? Now, we smart shoppers, who want to live a little longer, realize the damage that those ingredients can do; some of that stuff that's hiding in the food, so we don't just buy the good-looking food because it looks good. Uh! Uh! First, we check for what's in that product that could do damage!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Look at the Label."
Now, we've gotten more and more vigilant about what we put in our body, huh? Things that can hurt it. We don't want to do that. But what about what we put in our soul? Our word for today from the Word of God, comes from 1 Peter 2, beginning at verse 9. It tells us what we are. We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people belonging to God!
Then in verse 11 it says, "I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world to abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul." Wow! I mean there are desires and temptations that literally attack your soul, and your soul is the 'command center' of your choices and your imagination, your dreams and your lifestyle. If it gets poisoned, your life gets poisoned. So like a health conscious shopper, we need to "Look At the Label."
We've got to check what damaging ingredients there might be and what we're allowing to feed our soul. Now our soul feeds on the books and magazines we read, the websites we visit, the videos we watch, the music we listen to, the movies we go to, the jokes we listen to. It feeds on the conversations we're in, the relationships we spend a lot of time on, and God's command is without compromise. "Abstain from sinful desires!" Don't touch, don't watch, don't listen to, don't be around any input that Satan can use later to attack your soul.
Maybe you've become kind of careless about what you're letting into your soul. It's easy to do, especially in times when you just want to relax or be entertained, times when you want to sort of hang a "closed" sign out on your brain. Those times where your guard is down are the most dangerous of all for your soul. Why is it so important, as the Bible says, to guard your heart? Because every sinful image is an opening for Satan to come into your soul and poison it, and "erode" you.
Sinful images last much longer than the moment you see or hear them. You know that. For example: dirty jokes and dirty pictures, they live on in your soul don't they? Often for many years. Every portrayal of something dark wears down your spiritual resistance and you need all of that you can muster.
Sinful input dulls your heart to Jesus' voice and it weakens your soul. Here's the bottom line: you can't afford, any longer, to let that poison into your soul! It just isn't worth the damage it can do. I've decided that about what I let into my body. So, that food may look good and taste good, but the pleasure isn't worth the damage to my heart. No matter how attractive that sin-selling input is, don't let it in. It is not worth the damage it will do to your heart.