Milk, meat and bubblegum

Bill D. Hallsted

"Edgar is forty-seven."

I must have looked ridiculous, standing with my mouth agape. I closed it, swallowed, then responded, "Forty-seven?"

He nodded, looking at the robust baby contentedly taking his bottle. "Forty-seven last week, as a matter of fact."

"How can he be forty-seven years old? He's a baby!"

My guide nodded. "It's the diet. Edgar just likes infant formula, so he stays that age by eating nothing else."

My confusion was obvious. "I didn't think that was possible. I thought he'd die if he did that."

The guide sighed sadly. "He is dead, in many ways. He has refused to grow up, so he can't accomplish anything. He just has to be cared for."

I had a flurry of questions, but the guide moved on. I followed through a series of scenes. He showed me people at various ages, pretty much normal. The guide seemed obsessed with what each group was eating.

One group wasn't eating at all. They were terribly busy, doing all sorts of things. The guide explained they wanted so badly to accomplish things, they simply didn't take time to eat. It was evident they weren't enjoying their labours. They looked exhausted and weak, and they were suffering obvious pain, but they laboured on feverishly.

I finally tumbled onto what he was showing me. "Do you mean each group decides how mature they want to be by what they choose to eat?"

"That's exactly right," he said. "Some foods are pretty acidic. Those who eat exclusively those foods tend to become as caustic as their diet. Others eat only soft sweets, and become mushy and shallow. Others enjoy eating only very tough foods, and become hard. Those who choose a well-balanced diet are the ones that develop into mature, strong people, capable of accomplishing."

I watched in utter fascination. The idea they could so easily become what they chose to eat was difficult to accept. Then we came to that other group.

"I call these the gumballs." There was a hard edge in his voice.

"Why do you call them that?"

"Because that's all they'll eat."

"What? Gumballs?"

"Gum. The same bite, over and over. See that man over there? He's been chewing the same bite for thirty-one years."

His body was shrivelled and twisted from lack of nourishment. Only his jaws looked healthy, and they fairly bulged with muscle. He looked, honestly, like he could bite a nai1 in two. I forced my own jaw closed again. "Thirty-one years? The same bite?"

There was a grim set to the guide's lips as he nodded. "It was the first of his new diet he bit into. He liked it so well he has refused to move on to the next bite. He's just been chewing that same bite ever since."

I abruptly realized what I was being shown. These were not the bodies of people. It was their souls. Only in the spiritual realm are we able to choose our level of maturity and development by the diet we select.

Some want simple, shallow things, entertaining and easy to understand. They find the milk of God's Word pleasing and soothing. Afraid to try digesting more difficult truths of Christianity, they stay forever at the level of elementary teachings.

Others find certain elements of God's Word to fit well with their personal penchants, so they glean the Word carefully for those things. Anything that discloses other truths is brushed aside.

Then there are the gumballs. They latch onto a single teaching, or sometimes a pack of teachings. It may be from the Word or from their traditions. They chew it until it has little resemblance to what it started as. They have total disregard of every other teaching, every other truth, every need of the church. They really aren't good for much. They don't usually serve anywhere, or teach, or lead. They just chew their bite of gum and growl.

On the other hand, some find nourishment in the whole range of God's limitless Word. They feast thoughtfully on every course, developing appreciation for each truth as it unfolds. They mature accordingly. It is they who become the warriors, the workers, the able servants, the leaders upon whom the progress of the church depends.

It is true, spiritually speaking, that you are what you eat. Are you feasting gleefully on the great spiritual smorgasbord of God's Word?

"Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." (Hebrews 5:13-14)

Bill D. Hallsted is a freelance writer from Griffith, Ind.

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