Wall-to-Wall Obedience

I’ve been trying to eat healthier. As part of the new regimen, I tried a protein shake for breakfast. Have you ever tasted liquid carpet? Surely liquid carpet has to be better than this stuff. It coated every molar in a weird wall-to-wall sort of way. For the longest time I felt like I needed to shave my tongue. Surely something is wrong with that stuff. Sticking to a healthier diet doesn’t necessarily have to come with a hairy tongue, does it?

Sticking to the life of obedience doesn’t have to be hairy either. We need to seek to draw our nourishment not from every trendy new place, but straight from Christ Himself. Colossians 2:6-7 says, “And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to live in obedience to Him. Let your roots grow down into Him and draw up nourishment from Him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught.” (NLT)

Drawing nourishment from Christ is nothing like drinking carpet. There’s real refreshment in that deeper life. There’s growth there. There’s faith there. There’s spiritual vigor and vitality—all without the Astroturf aftertaste! It’s good to be “held to the wall,” so to speak, encouraged to live out a life of obedience.

Trying to find nourishment from any place other than Christ is worse than any high-carpet-fiber diet. The very next verse in Colossians 2 says, “Don't let anyone lead you astray with empty philosophy and high-sounding nonsense that comes from human thinking and from the evil powers of this world, and not from Christ.”

So don’t try to live in empty philosophies and all the world’s nonsense. Live in obedience with your roots firmly planted in Jesus. There’s divine health in His truth. That’s the kind of spiritual diet we need to stick to if we want to stay healthy.

On the physical health side, if you decide to try sticking to one of those protein shake diets, watch out for rug-burn.

Rhonda Rhea is a radio personality and a conference speaker for events all over the country. She is the author of Amusing Grace, a fun book for moms, Turkey Soup for the Soul—Tastes Just Like Chicken, a “chick” book loaded with laughs, and Who Put the Cat in the Fridge, a fun and fruitful family book. Watch for I’m Dreaming of Some White Chocolate in the fall. Rhonda is a mother of five. Her husband, Richie Rhea, is pastor of First Baptist Church of Troy, Missouri. Find out more at www.RhondaRhea.net.