Anorexic & Bulimic Men
Stuart L. Brogden 10
June, 2006
Several years ago, the news
was full of stories of otherwise normal teenage girls who either didnt eat enough
to nourish their bodies (anorexia) or would consumer massive quantities only to
barf it up soon thereafter (bulimia).
(Fine topics for a breakfast meeting, eh?) Although theres not much news coverage of these two debilitating
conditions, they are, in fact, running rampant throughout the body of Christ
in the spiritual realm. How many
Christian men you and me included are characterized by these?
Proverbs 23:4 - Labour
not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
Proverbs 24:17 Rejoice
not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth
Proverbs 24:19 Fret
not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked
In his book, Point Man,
Steve Farrar describes these conditions and the prescription for the cure: Anorexia nervosa is extreme body emaciation
caused by
aversion to food. Spiritual
anorexia is an aversion to reading the Scriptures. Farrar interviewed more than one thousand church going, Bible
believing Christian men and found that 45% failed to read the Bible at least
weekly. He then observes, the enemy
does not mind if you revere the Bible, just so long as you dont feed from
it. Why is it important that we read
the Word of God?
Farrar gives us three reasons
he starts his day in the Word:
First, it reminds me
that there is a God who is ruling over the affairs of my life. Society lives as though there is no God, and
I need to be reminded before I face the day that there is a God who is in
control of my life and circumstances. Second,
I need to be reminded of what is true.
A Christian man in this society is swimming upstream against the
current. Without the constant nutrition
of the Word, he will soon tire and be dragged off by the sheer forces of the
current. Third, the morning
briefing reinforces my convictions.
Each day I have to make choices based on my convictions. I need Gods input to make consistently
right choices.
God gives us another dose:
And Jesus being full
of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat
nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son
of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word of God. (Luke 4:1 4)
When Moses had
finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, "Take to
your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall
command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. For it is not an idle word for you; indeed
it is your life And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which
you are about to cross the Jordan to possess." (Deuteronomy 32:45 47)
I write unto you, little children, because your sins are
forgiven you for his name's sake. I
write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.
I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write
unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. I have written unto you, fathers, because ye
have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men,
because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome
the wicked one. (1 John 2:12
14)
Back to Farrar: As dangerous
as anorexia is, something else afflicting Christian men is even worse. It is spiritual bulimia. A young woman with bulimia will binge and
take in a tremendous amount of food, only to quickly vomit, thus denying her
body o the nutrients it needs.
Spiritual bulimia is an aversion to applying the Scripture to my life. Without digestion, I cannot benefit from the
nutrients in the food. Without
meditation leading to application, there is no spiritual digestion, and I
continue to lose strength. Lest we
think knowledge of Scripture is the antidote to spiritual bulimia, he reminds
us, in the Christian life the opposite of ignorance is not knowledge, but
obedience. God does not want to take a
new Christian and move him from ignorance to knowledge. He wants to move him from ignorance to
obedience.
Are you feeling overwhelmed
and discouraged in your walk with Christ?
Are you defeated and spiritually ineffective? Have you lost your excitement and enthusiasm in following hard
after Christ? Have you so given in to
habitual sin that it now threatens to sink you? Have you been duped by the enemy into ignoring the Scripture? Has
your schedule become so crowded that you havent picked up your Bible in
weeks? My friend, you cannot live
without the Bible. It is your life.
Back to the Word:
Blessed is the man
that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of
sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law
of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. (Psalms
1:1 2)
And Samuel said, Hath the
LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the
voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken
than the fat of rams. For rebellion is
as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because
thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being
king. (1 Samuel 15:22 23)
And it came to pass,
as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice,
and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou
hast sucked. But he said, Yea rather,
blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. (Luke 11:27 28)
For this cause also
thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which
ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth,
the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
But be ye doers of the
word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. (James 1:22)
If you are spiritually
anorexic, read your Bible. If you are
spiritually bulimic, meditate on and obey your Bible. Develop the habit of reading the Word, reach out to another man
who will help you walk in obedience.
You and I are too weak and too wicked to trust ourselves to walk
alone. Thats what the enemy wants you
to do.
Rowland Croucher said, "Above
all, desire to please Christ; dread his disapproval above everything else."
This one phrase, I believe, captures the essence of Christian life. How it concentrates the focus. Does it describe you? Far too often, I must confess, I find myself
the object of my desires. Let each man
who claims Christ dig into the Word and spend time in prayer - by these two
activities, we will be drawn to know Him better and our desires and dreads will
be rightly forged.
Let Christ be your motivation
and your guide, everything else will fail you and lead you astray.