Faith Comes By Hearing (Blog #5)

                      (This week's text is from a guest contributor.)

                                                    Chew Your Food

                                             Jonathan Hill, San Jose

In my early years my parents would constantly tell me to chew my food.  They would say, "Slow down son, and chew each bite before you swallow!"  I believe the reason they were so adamant in instructing me to chew my food is because I almost died when I was eight-years old, because I did not chew my food.

I used to play a game with a friend of mine called "red light, green light" that involved racing each other to see who could drink their glass of milk the fastest.  We did not take the time to enjoy our milk, much less digest it.  Our goal was to win the game.

This game morphed into a similar contest at the zoo between my friend and me.  We were fascinated with the elephants, and how they loved to eat peanuts shell and all.  I decided to buy some whole peanuts, and talked my friend in to going along with me and seeing who could eat them all first!  I do not remember who won, but my friend was very sick the next day.  I did not get sick until a week later and I nearly died from a bowel blockage at eight-years old  My digestion has been a little sensitive ever since, and my parents knew I needed to chew my food for the sake of my health.

God teaches us that we are not to live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).  Sometimes I consume God's word by wolfing it down, and getting through my daily bible study without really digesting each and every word.

We have special digestive enzymes that are released in our mouth when we take the time to chew our food before we swallow.  This breaks the food down to release much needed nutrients that we do not get when we just swallow without chewing our food thoroughly.

When we hear or read the precious word of God, the spiritual food of life, we need to carefully chew our food and receive the full spiritual nutrition God intends us to have.