Sweet, but Fake
Getting off the fake stuff is hard.
I am a tea-aholic. I drink several cups a day and I have been drinking it with Sweet and Low to sweeten it for years – lots of years. It is the way I like it.
Last year my twin sister died of pancreatic cancer. She, too, had a tea addiction and a Sweet and Low preference. The only difference was that she liked hers cold.
When she was diagnosed, of course, we questioned the cause and many thought the chemical sweetener may have been a part, if not all, of the problem. I dismissed that because I like it. I rationalized my choice because “most” of the articles I read about how bad artificial sweeteners are speak about Aspartame and Splenda. I figured I was using the best of the worst.
I have even often joked about how safe my tea is compared to other’s sodas when we are outside because no bee or bug would have anything to do with it. You would think I would take a hint from nature.
Well, I am on day 5 of sweetening my tea with honey because I am not convinced that processed sugar is any better than the chemical choices. Though I still have no idea if Sweet and Low would cause cancer in me I am sure that it is better to try to prevent it than it is try to cure it.
As I thought about this today I realized that the fake stuff is very alluring. It is sweet to the taste. Though it is bad for us, the consequences take a long time to show up, sometimes too late for it not to harm us. This is like sitting under bad Bible teaching. It sounds good. We might even learn something because there’s usually some element of truth in it. But, without being real obvious, it is spiritually killing those who choose to sit under it for a long time.
In Acts 17:10-11 Paul and Silas go to Berea and preach the gospel in the synagogue. The Bible commends the Bereans because they searched the scriptures to see if what Paul taught them was true.
I don’t have any idea what caused my sister’s cancer but I know that I can eliminate potential causes in my life if I am willing to learn what is good or bad for me and to pay attention to what goes into my body. Likewise, we can each learn to nourish ourselves spiritually by examining what goes into our hearts and minds as truth. The real truth can always be confirmed in scripture.
I read 2 Timothy 3: 16 -17 and wonder what we miss out on when we don’t care enough to want to know what the Bible says. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Are you and I being fed the real Truth or are we listening to fake stuff every week? Are we testing the words we hear with what the Bible says? Are we so comfortable in our “best of the worst” that we would rather rationalize all the reasons we should stay? Why would we not want to find the best of the best teaching out there so that we can be equipped to serve God for His glory and our own good?