Spiritual Scurvy

11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

One of the silent killers of US and Filipino POWs in WWII was scurvy. Scurvy is caused by a lack of vitamin C. Without it, you are unable to produce collagen and other so your body starts to self destruct. Progressive signs are tooth loss, rashes, cankerous sores in your mouth and eventually death. The POWs' diets were limited to small amounts of white rice often laced with worms. The rice is just a starch so the worms, though gross, at least provided some protein. As these men started to realize that scurvy was setting in across the camp, the prisoners realized that volunteering for the farming detail would allow them access to naturally growing citrus trees on the edges of the field. The harsh treatment by the Japanese, drove tens of thousands to death. It is ironic that a small amount of fruit saved the lives of many more.

When you get to the heart of Philippians 1:11 above, Paul is saying eat from the tree of life by communing with Jesus and His Glory. It reinforces Jesus charge to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Jesus wants us to consume Him, and in turn be consumed by Him.

The old saying "you are what you eat" is as true spiritually as it is physically. Just as a physical diet deprived of vitamin C leads to death so does a Spiritual life devoid of communion with God through Christ. A spirit separated from its maker will shrivel and die, just like many of the POWs in Cabanatuan, one of the infamous Japanese POW camps. Time spent worshipping personally, with a small group and corporately is the spiritual cure for spiritually scurvy, a.k.a. sin and depravity of man.

Our culture, even inside the Church, seems more obsessed with learning about God and the things of God, than just simply worshipping Him. All of the best books and sermons miss their mark in your life if they don't send you searching the depth of your soul to Exhalt Christ. If the learning about Holy precepts and models for Church life are devoid of the Spirit, then what is the point? That looks like the POWs having a guaranteed escape route, yet the scurvy has them to weak to walk down it.

One of the great truths of the bible is this: Worship God, the one true God through Christ or die. It is that simple. That comes only from God by grace, but it is our privileged responsibility to be filled with life by eating the "fruit of righteousness" as Paul says.

The harsh truth is this: We are all built to consume, desire and worship something so that is occurring in all of our lives. When that is directed to something other than exhalting Christ, it is called idolatry. Idolatry covered by a religious veneer like going to church for an hour a week while our daily thoughts, concerns and desires are consumed by something else is the darkest trap around. It is a large one that has snared many throughout the years and is living large today in the good ol' USA.

Are you being filled with Fruit of righteousness? If not, then these words will lead you to start justifying the very idol(s) that you are being consumed with and by.