WHAT ARE YOU FEEDING THE NEXT GENERATION? PART 2: WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE YOU?

WHAT ARE YOU FEEDING THE NEXT GENERATION?

PART 2: WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE YOU?

James 1:22 (NLT)

“But do not just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.”

 

In Part 1, we asked a simple but important question:

What are you feeding yourself?

We discovered that spiritual growth requires spiritual nourishment.

We also learned that what we repeatedly consume can influence what we become and eventually what we produce.

But there is another important question.

What happens after you consume something?

This question takes us back to the thought that started this series.

A mother eats food.

The baby does not receive the food directly.

The mother's body processes what she has eaten.

The nutrients are absorbed, regulated and used by her body as part of the production of breast milk.

The baby receives the nourishment through the milk.

The food has gone through a process.

That process made me think about our spiritual lives.

What happens to what enters us?

RECEIVING IS NOT THE SAME AS BECOMING

We can hear something without becoming it.

We can read something without practicing it.

We can memorize Scripture without allowing Scripture to change us.

We can listen to sermons every week and still remain the same person.

We can attend church for years and still struggle with the same attitudes.

Information can enter the mind without transforming the life.

That is why James gives us a serious warning:

“Do not just listen to God's word.”

Then he tells us what to do:

“You must do what it says.”

There is a difference between hearing and doing.

There is a difference between receiving and processing.

There is a difference between knowing and becoming.

THE WORD MUST GO DEEPER

Imagine eating food and keeping it in your mouth without swallowing it.

It may be in your mouth, but it is not nourishing your body. In the same way, God's Word can be in our Bibles, on our phones, in our notebooks and even in our memory, but still fail to transform our lives.

The Word must move from information to conviction.

Conviction must lead to obedience.

Obedience must shape our character.

And character eventually influences our conduct.

The goal is not simply to know more Scripture.

The goal is to become more like Christ.

MARY GAVE US A PICTURE OF THIS

When the angel announced God's plan to Mary, she received a message that would change her life.

Luke 2:19 says:

“Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.”

Mary did not simply hear. She reflected.

She thought about what God had said.

She carried the word she had received.

She allowed it to occupy her heart.

There is something important here.

What we repeatedly think about can influence who we become.

This is why our spiritual processing matters.

MEDITATION IS PART OF THE PROCESS

Psalm 1:2 says:

“But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night.”

Meditation is more than reading a verse once. It is taking God's Word seriously enough to think about it.

It is asking:

What is God saying to me?

What does this mean for my life?

What must I change?

What must I stop doing?

What must I start doing?

How should I respond?

That is how the Word moves from the page into the heart. 

WHAT ARE YOU PROCESSING?

We process everything we consume.

Someone says something to you.

You think about it.

Someone offends you.

You replay it in your mind.

Someone praises you.

You remember it.

You see something online.

You think about it.

You hear a sermon.

You either forget it or continue thinking about it. The issue is not only what enters your life. The issue is what you do with what enters your life.

Two people can hear the same sermon and respond differently.

One may hear it and forget it.

Another may hear it and obey it.

One may receive correction and become offended.

Another may receive correction and become better.

One may experience disappointment and become bitter.

Another may use the experience to develop maturity.

The experience is not always what determines the outcome.

How we process the experience matters.

YOUR HEART IS THE PROCESSING CENTER

Proverbs 4:23 says:

“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”

The heart is where many things are processed.

Words are processed there.

Experiences are processed there.

Offences are processed there.

Ideas are processed there.

Temptations are processed there.

The Word of God is also received there.

That is why we must guard our hearts.

If we allow everything into our hearts without discernment, we should not be surprised when unhealthy things eventually come out of our lives.

THE DANGER OF UNPROCESSED EXPERIENCES

One of the things we must learn as Christians is how to process life through God's Word.

Someone hurts you.

What do you do with the hurt?

Someone betrays you.

What do you do with the pain?

Someone rejects you.

What do you do with the rejection?

You experience failure.

What do you do with the disappointment?

You receive success.

What do you do with the success?

Every experience enters your life.

But every experience does not need to become part of your character.

You can experience bitterness without becoming bitter.

You can experience rejection without becoming hateful.

You can experience disappointment without losing faith.

You can experience success without becoming proud.

The Word of God must help us process our experiences.

WHAT YOU PROCESS CAN BECOME WHAT YOU PRODUCE

This is where the lesson becomes important for the next generation.

If a person continually processes life through anger, anger can eventually become part of their response.

If a person processes disappointment through bitterness, bitterness can become part of their character.

If a person processes correction through pride, they may become resistant to growth.

But if a person learns to process life through God's Word, something different can happen.

Pain can produce compassion.

Correction can produce wisdom.

Trials can produce endurance.

Forgiveness can produce freedom.

Prayer can produce peace.

The Word can produce transformation.

Romans 12:2 says:

“Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.”

Notice that transformation involves the way we think.

God does not simply want to change our behavior. He wants to transform us from within.

THE NEXT GENERATION WILL EXPERIENCE YOUR PROCESSED LIFE

This brings us back to our central question.

What are you feeding the next generation?

The next generation will not only experience your words. 

They will experience your responses.

They will experience your character.

They will experience the results of how you process life.

Consider a child watching a parent respond to an offence. The child may not know the theological explanation for forgiveness.

But the child can see forgiveness being practiced.

Consider a child watching a parent face financial difficulty. The child may not understand everything happening.

But the child can see whether the parent responds with faith, wisdom, panic or dishonesty.

Consider a child watching a parent receive correction. The child can learn humility or defensiveness.

This is why our inner life matters.

People eventually experience what has been developing inside us.

YOU CANNOT HIDE THE PROCESS FOREVER

What is happening inside eventually becomes visible. A tree may be hidden beneath the ground, but eventually the fruit appears.

A person's heart may be hidden from people for a while, but eventually their words, choices and reactions reveal something.

Jesus said:

“A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.”

Matthew 12:35 NLT

The issue is not simply the fruit.

We must examine the treasury.

What are you storing inside?

LESSONS TO LEARN

1. Hearing God's Word is not enough.

The Word must move from hearing to obedience.

2. What enters you must be processed.

Do not allow every experience, opinion or influence to settle permanently in your heart.

3. Meditation helps God's Word take root.

Give God's Word time to occupy your thoughts and shape your decisions.

4. Your response reveals your inner condition.

Pressure often reveals what has been developing inside us.

5. What develops inside you eventually affects others.

Your private spiritual life can become someone else's public experience.

KEY TAKEAWAY

What enters you is important, but what happens to it inside you is equally important.

Do not simply consume God's Word.

Process it.

Think about it.

Believe it.

Obey it.

Live it.

Let it transform you.

Because what is processed inside you will eventually influence what comes out of you.

CALL TO ACTION

Take one Scripture that God has been speaking to you about recently.

Do not simply read it today.

Sit with it.

Think about it.

Ask God what it means for your life.

Ask:

What is this Word correcting in me?

What is this Word teaching me?

What must I change?

What must I obey?

Then take one practical step.

Do not allow another sermon to become information that enters your mind and disappears.

Let the Word become part of your life.

PRAYER

1. Father, help me not only to hear Your Word but to live by it.

2. Holy Spirit, help me process every experience through the truth of God's Word.

3. Lord, remove every unhealthy thought, attitude and influence that has taken root in my heart.

4. Father, transform my thinking so that my character will increasingly reflect Christ.

5. Lord, let what You develop inside me become a blessing to the generation coming after me.

NEXT PART PREVIEW

PART 3: WHAT IS FLOWING OUT OF YOU?

Something is happening inside you.

You are receiving.

You are processing.

You are becoming.

But eventually, something comes out.

Jesus said:

“For whatever is in your heart determines what you say.”

Matthew 12:34 NLT

The next question is therefore not only:

What are you consuming?

Or:

What are you processing?

The question is:

What is flowing out of you?

What comes out when you are angry?

What comes out when you are under pressure?

What comes out when someone hurts you?

What comes out when you have power?

What comes out when nobody is watching?

And most importantly:

What is the next generation receiving from what is flowing out of your life?

In Part 3, we will examine the connection between the heart and our words, attitudes, actions and influence.

Because eventually, what is inside you will find a way out.

Grace and peace be with you until we meet again in the next part of this life transforming journey.

God is speaking, are you listening?

Prince Julius Nenebi-Darkson

(EL-PJ God's Penman)