daily java

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see;
they have ears, but cannot hear, nor is there breath in their mouths.
Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.  (Psalm 135:15-18)

You are what you eat. So goes the old saying. Another is garbage in garbage out.

Whatever you take in is what will come out. If you take in junk, you will put out junk.

People from other countries or cultures smell strange to us sometimes. What we tend to do is to chalk it off to, those people have a racial musk, or something like that. But what happens is that people smell like what they eat.

Since we eat what we eat, we think we smell fine. We are normal. But another culture may have a strong garlic based diet, or maybe a spice we never use. So when people from that culture sweat, they sweat out a totally different body odor than we do.

It is not weird, just different from us. I found out several years ago that they feel the same about us.

In old accounts, people in the west would talk about how odd the Indians smelled. But the Indians would also mention how odd the white settlers smelled. Both had different diets, different hygiene methods, different lifestyles and it came out through their bodies.

Neither was necessarily bad, just different.

So it goes with what you worship. And worshipping something doesn’t necessarily mean falling down in front of something giving obeisance or sacrifices. It means what you think about all the time, what you obsess on, what is the center of your life.

People who love bowling talk about bowling. If that is the center of their lives, that is what they talk about all the time. To one who can take or leave bowling, it is not necessarily the choice of conversation. But it is their life.

I knew an Elvis impersonator who had no life other than his impersonating Elvis. Everything he had was Elvis oriented. He always wore Elvis oriented clothing, ate peanut butter and banana sandwiches, listened to Elvis recordings. He was obsessed with Elvis.

He was also tiresome to other people. Elvis is okay occasionally, but not 24/7. It is like a radio station in the Houston Texas area who decided back in the 80’s to become KBTL, All Beatles, All The Time. It didn’t last long before it became a Mexican station.

Those who make them will be like them. You get to where you are like what you love. And people know what you love. They can hear it in your life.

If you love your car or cars, that is what you talk about. If you love your kids or family in general, that is what you talk about. Bowling, needle-pointing, the Grateful Dead, music, 15th century Eastern European wedding pottery – that is what you talk about.

People do not have to listen very long to know where your heart is.

It is hard to be a committed Christian when you never think about Christ. If you are spending your time in a million other pursuits, or one other exclusively, you do not have your mind set on things above.

Colossians 3 says, Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

There is nothing wrong with hobbies and outside interests, but they will not bring you to God.

Only God can bring you to him. And the only obsession that is useful is worshipping God.