How can anyone who uses a computer or lives in an affluent society have malnutrition?   Just by eating the incorrect foods for our body.

       Can we get all of our nutrients by eating snacks all day long?  Can we eat sufficient quantities of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients while using the computer all day and not taking adequate breaks for a well-balanced meal?  Do we take the time to eat as we should?  Some of you will probably say "Yes" to these questions, and some will probably say "No".  In the United States, we have come to the point of not wanting to be correct or incorrect, of not wanting to judge others habits.   Yet, there comes a time when common sense says much more than a voice.  And, has all of our computer time really given us better common sense or has it given us more intellectual sense without the common sense.

       How can malnutrition be a religious problem?  Malnutrition, or the lack of taking care of our bodies properly is definitely a religious problem because the Lord told us that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.  So, if we are misfeeding our bodies, are we loving ourselves.  And if we do not love ourselves enough to take good care of us, then how can we love our neighbors.

       OOOOOH!!!!!!   Say what?????????????????

       Okay you Christians, do you love your neighbors as much as you love yourselves?   And do you love yourselves as much as you love the Lord Jesus Christ?  Can this be connected with living a righteous life and one that is pleasing to the Lord?

       Is this our stubborn selves getting in the way of us giving praise and glory to the Lord?   Is this us giving honor to God in all that we do?   I don't want to get you on a guilt trip, but just want to make you think.

       Now, let's talk about Jesus in all of this.  We say we love the Lord with all of our heart, with all of our mind and with all of our might.   And we say that we love our neighbor as ourselves, so now it's up to us to put this into practice.

       Malnutrition is a result of poor education regarding the requirements of our human body and its needs for health.  Not only is it a result of poor education, but also of the lack of willingness to learn.   Poor education to the weaker members of society is a result of not truly caring for or loving those who are weaker than ourselves.   We who are strong in our education and in our health have failed to carry the burden of responsibility towards those who are weaker or poorer than what we are.  We can say the same thing about those of us who have stood silently by while allowing those with weaker consciences to be drawn into unhealthy addictions.   Oh, but I've been told that it is not our responsibility to carry the burden of their inability's to stand firm and strong.   Wrong.  Nowhere in the Bible, which is our basis for teaching, does it ever say that we are not to care for those who are poor and weak.

       Christ always demonstrated his care and concern for those who were shunned by the 'moral majority'.  He healed the lepers.  He allowed an unclean woman to touch his robe and thereby be healed.   He ate with sinners.  He got his fingers dirty when he healed the man born blind.  He took off his outer garments and washed the filthy feet of his disciples.   And, when he hung on the cross for us 'holy' people, he hung between two common thieves and declared one of them clean.

       Romans 14 and 15 directs us to not pass judgment on those who are weaker than we are and it also directs us to NOT CAUSE OUR BROTHER TO FALL.   1 Corintians charges us with the same command.  If we are to truly love our brother----even those who are weaker than we are ----we are to build them up, not go around with our noses in the air and condemn them.

       This does not mean that we are to enable these weaker brothers to continue in their weakness. NO.   We are to build them up in their faith so that their human weakness is healed.  This does not mean that we are to just go out and preach condemnation to them because of their living styles.  We are to lift them up in prayer.   We are to pray for their healing.  We are to be witnesses to them regarding Jesus' power to heal them.   We are to encourage them in their walk with the Lord.   We are to assist them in standing tall and strong in their faith.   And, most of all, we are to pray the Lord's protection around them so that the lures of the world no longer bind them to their living styles.

       I am not going to quote Scriptures to you because most of those who are reading this can quote Scriptures better than I can.  This message is not about that.  This message is about living the WORD OF GOD every day of our lives and living it as God directed us to do.

       God has continuously said that the poor and needy will always be with us.   He said that King David was a man after His own heart.   He said that His religion was taking care of widows and orphans in their distress.  And, didn't Jesus show compassion to those who followed Him when He realized they were hungry for physical food?  Now, is our lack of helping our weaker brothers and sisters of the Lord or is it of Satan.

       What did God always do to those who were puffed up with arrogance and pride for being in their own more fortunate position?  He brought them down so low that all they could do was bark like a wild dog (King Nebuchadnezzer) until they came to acknowledge that God Almighty was King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Does God have to do that with us before we come to complete repentance and humble ourselves before the Lord and do His will towards our weaker brothers?  If that is what it takes for God to have His will accomplished in our lives, then let it happen!  He is the one in control and it is Him whom we are to serve.  Not just with our mouths, but with our prayers and actions.  Love is an action word.   Not a feeling.  To love Jesus as the Lord of our lives is to put His will into action in our lives.   Not just by going to church and fellowship with other believers, but reaching our to those who are fallen brothers and lifting them up out of their muddy pits.