Tactic Of The Day: Supplement’s vs Sustenance
Something I often think back to in history is the idea that literacy was not really obtainable for most people. As you are sitting reading this article there was a time in history and even up to relatively recent history where small percentages of populations could read. A major contributor to this change was the invention of the printing press in 1440. After this invention the amount of books able to be made sky rocketed and this gave more opportunity for literacy and it was not a small group of elites withholding information.
The interesting thing now is the way the powers of evil have organized our world. Most people in 1st world countries can read but there is so much information that people don’t even know where to start. On the internet you can type in a question and read 1000s of articles and the majority may not even be true. The amount of information provided to us is like drinking from a fire hose and lots of content is hidden like a needle in a hay stack.
With the amount of information that is available to us at the swipe of a thumb It is more important than ever for us to build Godly discernment as we are discipling and shepherding people God has put in our lives. Think about it when it even comes to Christian content. If you went on to any social media you would see 1000s of accounts where people are speaking the word of God and how do you discern through that abundance what you are supposed to be watching?
I heard a really good analogy one time and the person speaking told a story about a body builder who was trying to get in shape for a competition. As this body builder was working on meeting his health goals in regards to diet, there was a certain amount of protein per day he needed to consume. This body builder took a different approach though and instead of eating whole foods that included the protein he needed all he did was drink protein shakes. After a couple weeks of this he ended up passing out and going into the hospital. Once he started talking to the doctors he told them his plan of supplementing protein from these shakes and they corrected him and told him how dangerous that was.
Just because the man was drinking protein shakes and getting the protein he needed does not mean he was getting all the nutrients and that is why protein shakes are supplemental and not the main source of sustenance.
The way we discern through this massive haystack of information is by only using the supplemental pieces of content in conjunction with our sustenance which is our bible.
For us there are so many supplemental things we have access to, books , podcasts , social media but the reality is our real sustenance is the word of God. In the book of Matthew there is a part where Jesus goes into the forest for 40 days to fast. At the end of this fast the enemy comes to Jesus and tempts him with earthly authority. There is a specific verse in Matthew 4 though where Jesus tells the enemy “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” In this verse Jesus is referring back to the book of deuteronomy when the Israelites wandered the wilderness for 40 years because they were not living on the word of God. Jesus is telling the enemy that the only thing needed is God’s word.
Scripturally we are shown that the word of God is our sustenance and everything else is our supplement. In the first chapter in the book of John you see John show us that Jesus is the word of God and Jesus took on flesh so that we could be redeemed by his sacrifice on the cross.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life,[ and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:1-5
Now what happens from the enemy and his army of evil is they will always pull you to the supplement. For many people we have a desire to learn more about God and build our relationship but what the enemy and his army do is use our zealous excitement and steer us in the wrong direction. Instead of reading your bible we watch podcasts, we watch videos we read books of people commenting on scripture. Those are all amazing tools but if we only consume that content we will be drinking protein shakes instead of eating a good steak and potatoes meal.
The heart to learn more is amazing but we need to make sure we have our bumpers up to guide us into the word and from there use everything else in addition. People are not infallible, people can be wrong, people can misinterpreted but when you have the knowledge given by the word itself you only increase your rate of learning because you have a base line of what’s true and accurate. Jesus gives us an amazing analogy to understand this in Matthew 7:24-27.
Jesus says: “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”
Jesus is telling us that there is a specific way to follow in his footsteps in relationship and that is by using the word of God as your source and not your supplement.
If you find yourself struggling to go to the word for your lesson a great way to dial yourself back in is zooming in. You do this by praying on one thing God wants to teach you. From there you look at verses only specific to that topic and you read as many as possible. After that you have a great foundation and can use other sermons as an added perspective but they are not the source.
Use the written word as the bumpers in a bowling alley. Once you’re proficient in whatever the topic is then take the gutters down. Start to learn more from additional sources and that will amplify your knowledge while keeping you on a firm foundation.