"Excitotoxins & Sin."

"Excitotoxins & Sin."

By: Pastor Jack Schneider

“He loved the taste of his wickedness, letting it melt under his tongue. He savored it, holding it long in his mouth. But suddenly, what he has eaten turns deadly within him, a poisonous venom in his body.”  [Job 20:12-14, PJV/NLT]

My doctor is helping identify foods I cannot afford to eat, and we’re not talking dollar signs on a menu. Built-up physical/nerve damage over the years has taken a toll on my back and hearing, triggered by foods containing certain chemicals and even natural substances proving harmful to my health and, perhaps, to yours. The worst, for me, have a name: excitotoxins, and they act exactly as they sound. They excessively stimulate nerve and brain cells [think of your brain’s response to your taste buds on this one…] until, after a short time, these cells die. Hence, the last part of the name: “toxins.”

You’d think this would keep me in check. But we like flavor and sweetness, don’t we? We don’t want bland, tasteless food or crave drinks that pass for last night’s dishwater. So, on goes the MSG [monosodium glutamate, “flavor enhancer”] and in goes the aspartame [“natural sweetener”]. Our taste buds are thrilled! Oh, yeah, one more thing… For the next two days I walk and move like I’ve been run over by a truck, and that’s how I feel.

On a spiritual level, this is exactly how satan pitches us with the excitotoxin known as sin or, in the Word above, “wickedness.” What does the Father of Lies slip under your tongue to get your senses rolling and your brain charged up? It’s the same process as our taste buds, but far more deadly. Flattery is sweet, and envy has a way of creeping in to add a little “zing.” But there are some biggies that absolutely burst onto our spirits: pride -- because we do not like it when someone appears to get the better of us or things have not gone our way; and do not forget the subtlety of lust and the physicality of our looks.  Make no mistake, satan knows just how to pull your chain and mine. He knows us inside and out. And the flavor lasts, like a Jolly Rancher.

The Good News is, “He that is in you is greater than the one who is in the world!” [1 Jn.4:4]  Jesus lives in you and will not leave; He will not quit.  Even when we struggle with the lure of sin and only later discover how deadly it is [Prov.20:17 “Food gained by fraud tastes sweet, but we end up with a mouth full of gravel.”]. There is joy and forgiveness as we turn and confess our sin, trusting our faithful Lord’s promises. You see, it takes two days of drinking pure, cleansing water to flush the poison out my system before I can walk upright again; it takes only one instant of absolution based on the pure, cleansing waters of your baptism to flush the poisons out of your life. [1 Jn.1:8-2:2]

- Jack