Each morning last week I was given mega doses of steroids. The hoped for results have been stunning and we are pleased. However, there has been one side-effect. I can’t taste anything. I even went to Taco Bell this afternoon to get something super spicy just so I could taste something. Cold doesn’t register and I also need to be careful of hot things. As I sat there eating my cardboard tasting bean burrito I realized how we can lose our taste for things. Our diets, physical and mental, very much shape our desires. I grew up putting salt on watermelons and cantaloupes. To this day I need to put salt on them to find them really good. Some of my friends who grew up without salt on their melons think salt on melons tastes horrible. It is like liking or not liking olives.
There is a television station that only plays reruns of sitcoms from thirty or so years ago. I do so enjoy them. They are pleasant without the violence and smut. As for most of the (excuse my expressions here) really stupid and usual vulgar reality shows, I just have no appetite for them. But obviously someone does or they wouldn’t be produced.
Once again I fear insulting your intelligence by mentioning this applies to our reading materials, our music, our styles of worship and our devotional habits. If one wants to get to really know Jesus one must read what He said, about what He did, what He promises to do for us and what He does for us right now. Time spent will whet one’s appetite for more. Appetites can be changed. It just takes a bit of effort.
Written by Roger Bothwell on July 22, 2013
Spring of Life, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org