One of my greatest problems is my sweet tooth. I love sugar, I love sour candies, I love sweet candies, I love ice cream, I love kool-aid, I love soda-pop... In fact, when I was younger I went a little too far with the goodies, drinking as many as 5 pops a day.

Another problem I have, is that I do not really like milk. Whenever I would drink milk I would either add sugar or flavoring to it, or have to "chug it" to get past the taste. Of course, we all know that too much sugar isn't healthy, and in fact can cause a lot of problems, including tooth disease, obesity, diabetes, and more. Too much sugar in our lives, and not enough milk ends up hindering healthy growth.

Out in the world there are a lot of "sweet things," things that we enjoy and would prefer to do. Some of these things are physically healthy such as sports, while others such as watching tv and video games are not. However, just because something is physically healthy, does not mean that it is always healthy (1 Timothy 4:8). Too much tv, too many video games, or even too much focus on sports can deprive us from the other nutrients we need in life, they can deprive us of our "spiritual milk."

I remember going to the clinic after breaking my arm. The doctor walked in to talk to me the importance of a balanced diet as my bones started to heal. The one thing he mentioned that made me cringe, was that I needed to drink a lot of milk. He then went on to explain the importance of the nutrients found in milk- the vitamin D and the calcium to help keep the bones strong... He then talked about pop, and how the acidic, sugary drink could hurt the bone density and the healing process. To put it bluntly, he said, "without milk your bones just won't grow."

Just like we need milk to maintain strong bones, and just like infants need the nutrients found in their mother's milk, we as Christians need spiritual milk to keep us growing. We need to make sure we limit the sweet stuff in our lives, the sweets that distract us from getting the milk we need, and focus on building the desire to grow in Christ. The desire to become healthier, stronger Christians... something we can only do through the Word of God.

Today, compare how much time you spend in front of the TV, how much time you spend playing video games, how much time you spend in sports practices and hanging with your friends, and then compare these to how much time you spend in God's Word... are you living a balanced diet, and getting the "milk" you need to grow?