The great American Pop-Tart.
What's so bad about them!?
When I was younger it was rare that I was actually able to bite into these delicious breakfast treats. I could eat a whole box at one sitting if I had been allowed. My sweet tooth has been a force of reckoning throughout my life!
When I got married, and didn't have to abide by the food rules of my family, I began to feel excited at the prospect of purchasing these scrumptious pastries to add to my breakfast. I can remember the moment of realizing that I didn't have to tell myself NO. I put them in my cart. I bought them and brought them home with a "winner" mentality.
Then came the hard truth that I didn't realize until later in my life. They did not fill me as I had hoped. In fact, I would be quite hungry later after eating them. I began to realize they were not filled with the wonderful goodness I had thought.
After years of trying to find the best breakfast that would leave me feeling satisfied and not causing me to get quite grumpy from unstable blood sugar, I can now look back on the Pop-Tart and realize they aren't so good.
In fact, I recently was asked the question "What's so bad about a Pop-Tart!?" when I had been discussing having egg, sausage and toast for breakfast one morning with someone else. Having had the experience of WHY the Pop-Tart is bad, I began to go through the facts in my head:
Cheap food.
Imitation.
Empty Calories.
High sugar.
High sugar leads to high insulin in your body.
High insulin leads to increased hunger.
Increased hunger causes you to crave the high sugar.
The cycle repeats.
Bad eating produces bad results.
Diabetes, heart disease, obesity.
And you wonder why you feel tired, listless, and in a "brain fog."
Well, you ARE what you eat.
I have experienced the cheap food breakfast and the real food breakfast. I can see such a difference it makes in my entire day. In the last year I have been going to a Nutritionist and what she has taught me has brought all things full circle. She has helped me see why the Pop-Tart is not healthy in any part.
As I "chewed" on what is so bad about a Pop-Tart after having that conversation, the Lord led me to apply that to my spiritual life.
I have lived off the "Pop-Tart" walk with the Lord and found my soul was not being nourished. I lived like this for years thinking I was being a steadfast Christian. I was "feeding" through reading a My Daily Bread or other type of devotional booklet. I would read a few verses from the Bible in between Sundays when I would go to church. I thought I was doing my spiritual body good! What's so bad about Pop-Tart Christianity!?
Little did I realize that the cheap food of quick devotions and a verse or two was causing me to become irritable, craving the wrong things to satisfy, dealing with spiritual heart disease, and becoming obese in my pride. The "empty calories" were fooling me into thinking I was growing because I had "fed" myself spiritually. I just didn't realize that the cheaper food, while still food, was not making me spiritually healthy.
It wasn't until my Nutritionist - Jesus Christ - the Bread of Life and the Living Water - began to speak to my soul, shake up my world in spiritual checkups, and help me to see I needed to stop eating the "Pop-Tart" Christianity of quick devotions. I began eating a healthy, balanced diet of His Word. I learned how to devour His truths and saw how He alone filled me.
My spiritual health began to strengthen. I no longer became irritable at the slightest thing. My cravings began to be less and less of the world and more of my Savior who fills me. My heart disease began to take a turn for the better. Through exercise of reading God's Word, and walking closely with my Savior, my obesity of pride was reduced.
Just as eating healthy for me physically is a challenge every day, so are the spiritual aspects of eating healthy. There are days I think it might be OK to grab that "Pop-Tart" Christianity and go on with my day. However, I begin to remember how I felt - spiritually unhealthy and left wanting - and I go back to the deeper feeding in God's Word.
"What's so bad about a Pop-Tart?" - or "Pop-Tart Christianity?"
Well... they are just empty calories that actually do more harm than good, will never fill you, and will leave you wanting.
Feed on God's Word and you will never hunger and never thirst. Your spiritual life will be stronger and you will be able to run the race the Lord has placed before you.