Sin – You Are What You Eat 1

^{Genesis 4:7
7} “Don’t you know that as long as you do what is right, then I accept you? But if you do not do what is right, watch out, because sin is crouching at the door, ready to pounce on you! You must master it before it masters you.” The Voice

The path of righteousness that leads to holiness is one that takes work, determination and a vision to pursue and as we journey through it, it gets narrower and steep. Not very many remain in it for we have to endure long to be able to stay the course, but in the end, it brings great rewards. Matthew 7:13-14 says,

¹³ “There are two paths before you; you may take only one path. One doorway is narrow. And one door is wide. Go through the narrow door. For the wide door leads to a wide path, and the wide path is broad; the wide, broad path is easy, and the wide, broad, easy path has many, many people on it; but the wide, broad, easy, crowded path leads to death. ¹⁴ Now then that narrow door leads to a narrow road that in turn leads to life. It is hard to find that road. Not many people manage it.” The Voice

In this path there is a constant choice between following God’s ways and forsaking the things of this world that are under the rulership of the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2). That is why many are called but few are chosen to continue in it (Matthew 20:16; 22:14). It takes sacrifice and a price to pay to stay on this road that many are not willing to pay, so they remain in sin. Many actually love the Lord and want to follow His ways, however, the things they consume in their daily lives causes them to err and be derailed away from the path of righteousness and holiness. I’m not just talking about food here.

We see in the initial passage that sin was calling Cain until it was able to crouch at the door and enter in. As the Scripture says we must learn to master it before it masters us. How do we do that? By feeding ourselves with the things that expose us to righteousness and holiness (that sets us apart from the ways of the world). The sin that mastered Cain became a thought that he began to entertain, then it became a vision that wanted to be fulfilled, it tainted his heart with anger, jealousy, and envy until it became hatred for his brother. He saw the things his brother did as better and greater than what he was able to accomplish because he was contaminated with an Antichrist spirit that fed on his insecurity and inferiority complex. His murderous thought became a plot until he found the opportunity to manifest what was consuming him.

This is how sin becomes action in our lives. It enters through the gates of our eyes by the things we watch on TV, at the Movie Theater, or magazines. Also by the things we hear on the radio or by the mouths of others around us, the music we choose to hear with the words and attitudes we allow to enter in our ear gate. Or by the people we allow in our lives, the bad company that lure us to see, hear, or go to places to do what perverts and pierces our hearts until we become hard and numb to what is right. The more we do this, the more we walk through the wide, broad, and easy path that leads to death and calls evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:22).

Every time we compromise our moral values and hear coarse language that demeans and shames and brings terror and anger, it cuts us on the inside of us until it transforms us into the image and likeness of that which we allow to continually enter in. Some compromise out of loneliness and allow the wrong people that may sound and seem to have good intentions but that are far from the will of God for us. Others do it for fear of not being liked by their peers, they fear ridicule and exposure as someone not good enough to be counted as a friend or comrade, others do it to cover up what is hurting them and pretend they have what it takes to excel even with the wrong methods and in the wrong place for them, the wrong people, and the wrong circumstances that could reel them into nothing but destruction.

They may have started wanting to do the right thing, loving God and desiring to follow His ways until they esteemed the price to be too high. Therefore, they became reluctant to sacrifice more than they bargained for to go after the pearl of great price which is the Kingdom and His righteousness. Matthew 13:45-46 shows how sold out we must become to the things of the Kingdom of God in order to stay on the narrow path that leads to life,

⁴⁵ “Or the kingdom of heaven is like a jeweler on the lookout for the finest pearls. ⁴⁶ When he found a pearl more beautiful and valuable than any jewel he had ever seen, the jeweler sold all he had and bought that pearl, his pearl of great price.” The Voice

So in order for us to be counted among the righteous, humble, repentant, faithful, and with a heart after God’s own heart, we need to do the opposite of what the world does. As mentioned above, holiness requires that we walk as set part from the things of this world. Yes, we are in it but we are not of it. John 15:16 shares,

“If you belonged to the world, the world would treat you with affection and would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world [no longer one with it], but I have chosen (selected) you out of the world, the world hates (detests) you.” AMPC

We come from another Kingdom, a Kingdom whose foundation are righteousness and justice, truth, loving-kindness and mercy (Psalm 89:14; 97:2). This means that our lives must be consumed with the ways of this Kingdom and for that we must become familiar with its Ruler and King. His name is Jesus, the One who makes our yoke easy and our burden light (Matthew 11:30) since He takes every load that we are not able to carry for ourselves because we must choose to cast it out or roll it away from us and unto Him in order to be able to walk on this narrow path. Psalm 37:5 says,

^“Commit your way to the Lord [roll and repose each care of your load on Him]; trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) also in Him and He will bring it to pass.” AMPC

We stay in the path of righteousness and holiness by allowing His word to be deep rooted in us. This takes time because we must become good soil for His word which shows us the ways of the Kingdom to germinate and produce good fruit in us that comes out of us through the things we think which produce the words we say and the things we do Proverbs 23:7a says, ^“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” 

Luke 6:45 also says, “The upright (honorable, intrinsically good) man out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart produces what is upright (honorable and intrinsically good), and the evil man out of the evil storehouse brings forth that which is depraved (wicked and intrinsically evil); for out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart his mouth speaks.” AMPC

The Bible says that we are known to be children of God by our fruit. This is the fruit of righteousness and holiness that does not compromise with the ways of this world. Matthew 12:33 tells us,

“Either make the tree sound (healthy and good), and its fruit sound (healthy and good), or make the tree rotten (diseased and bad), and its fruit rotten (diseased and bad); for the tree is known and recognized and judged by its fruit.” AMPC

For this, we have the necessity of spending time with our Creator and Lord for He is Righteous and Holy, and if we want to walk as people who are in the image and likeness of our Father, through His Son by His Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:27), intimacy with Him with prayer, reading His word, praising and worshiping Him, meditating on His Word, fasting, and seeking to hear the Words that come out of His mouth for us as we learn to hear His voice and differentiate it from the voice of the enemy accuser as our main form of communication with Him, must become our lifestyle for apart from Him we can do nothing. John 15:5 says,

^“I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing.” AMPC

This also helps the soil of our heart be free from polluted things of this world, from every form of lie of the enemy, every hurt and wound in our souls that produces dark and legalistic ideas and concepts in the filter of our minds through strongholds and mindsets that oppose Him and His word, as well as every deceiving doctrine and abominable thing that produces wickedness that leads to evil behavior in the sight of God. To explain more, these abominable ways are found in Proverbs 6:16-19 which says,

¹⁶ “These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him:

¹⁷ A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

¹⁸ A heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil,

¹⁹ A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren.” AMPC

Many of these things come because we preoccupy ourselves with wanting to control and manipulate our ways in life, seeking some form of godliness with some Scriptures that agree with our thinking, but when we encounter a word from the Lord that does not agree with us and our mindset, then we forsake it and prefer the ways of the world that choke the word of God out of our hearts, and instead, bring us to the wide and broad path that in the end leads to death. Luke 8:12-15 explains the difference between a good and a bad soil by saying,

¹² Those along the traveled road are the people who have heard; then the devil comes and carries away the message out of their hearts, that they may not believe (acknowledge Me as their Savior and devote themselves to Me) and be saved [here and hereafter].

¹³ And those upon the rock [are the people] who, when they hear [the Word], receive and welcome it with joy; but these have no root. They believe for a while, and in time of trial and temptation fall away (withdraw and stand aloof).

¹⁴ And as for what fell among the thorns, these are [the people] who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked and suffocated with the anxieties and cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not ripen (come to maturity and perfection).

¹⁵ But as for that [seed] in the good soil, these are [the people] who, hearing the Word, hold it fast in a just (noble, virtuous) and worthy heart, and steadily bring forth fruit with patience. AMPC

What’s more, in order for us to become good soil, we need to allow the right food to be what we consume. The right food for our kind of soil (as God's children and citizens of heaven). This means that just as not every plant can grow in the same type of soil and climate, part of the country or environment, we need to become the right type of soil that will produce a good crop that is healthy and multiplies to feed many. That is why getting the fertilizer and compost of the word of God, prayer, and as listed above, all these things will help us grow in the knowledge of God and of the ways of His Kingdom.

We also need to gather ourselves with like-minded people. People that are going in the same direction that we are, also with people that have the kinds of testimonies we want for our lives and have the wisdom and understanding of the Word of God to help us reach our destinies and achieve the God kind of success we are after. We also need to slam the door shut to the mundane things of the world that may want to creep in through our eye gate, our ear gate, our mouth gate, our hands gate, our nose gate, and our sexual organs gate.

The programs we watch, the things we read, the things we listen to, the people and the places we must avoid. There are a lot of things of this world that feed fear through their programming even in subtle ways. They also feed darkness and occult ways which is idolatry and every false way of worshipping that turns people away from God. In addition, the things of the world feed selfishness, pride, haughtiness, and hatred and going up by pushing and shoving or sleeping (with laziness or through having sex), or lying and cunning our way through the latter of success. The end of all of this is destruction.

Proverbs 16:16-18 clarifies for us,

¹⁶ “How much better it is to get skillful and godly Wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

¹⁷ The highway of the upright turns aside from evil; he who guards his way preserves his life.

¹⁸ Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” AMPC

All these things must be purged and pruned out of us if we want everything God has for us. The more we show ourselves faithful to Him the more He can entrust us with. So let’s Believe God’s Word and follow His path of righteousness and holiness that leads to a life of abundance to the full, till it overflows (John 10:10 AMPC) and do what James 1:21 says,

“So get rid of all uncleanness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted [in your hearts] contains the power to save your souls.” AMPC

To God alone be all the glory. ■

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