The Update

I love lucky charms. And not just because I bear a striking resemblance to the guy on the box. I love the way the marshmallows taste, the fun different types of shapes, and the neat colors the milk turns as the colored sugar dissolves.

One day, I was eating breakfast in the dining hall of my college. One of my classmates sat down across from me and on his tray were a heaping bowl of lucky charms, an empty bowl, and a 20oz. bottle of Mountain Dew.

I watched as he maticulously separated the marshmallow shapes out from the pieces of wheat cereal. He placed the marshmellow pieces in his empty bowl until he had a healthy helping of colorful sugar, and another bowl that more closely resembled Cheerios rather than Lucky Charms. Then, he poured the Mountain Dew on the ‘mallows, and proceeded to eat them as though there was nothing odd. When he was done, he threw away the wheat parts and left.

I’m impressed that he didn’t go into shock, and glad I wasn’t sitting by him in my next class. But that image of picking out the sugary stuff and washing it down with pure (delicious) caffeiene has always stuck with me.

A lot of people read the Bible the way my buddy ate his Lucky Charms. They pick out the sweet parts that are fun to eat. The feel good things like don’t steal, help the poor, God loves you, and other verses that are pretty easy to swalow. They are happy to eat the marshmallows of the Bible, but stay away from the parts that don’t taste as good. Things like don’t be arrogant or greedy, don’t gossip, stay pure, put others before yourself, and other verses that require us to actually change how we live.

You know those Nutrtional Facts panels on the sides of ceral boxes? The results are based on eating everything in the box, not just one part. The Bible works the same way, the whole thing is good, and meant to be taken as a whole. So we need to be sure that we don’t just pick the comfortable, tasty, sugary parts of being a Christian. We need to take everything the Bible says, even the parts that are hard to swallow, and make it a part of our life. Any other way, just isn’t healthy.