Like most children, one of my favorite foods at carnivals and fairs was cotton candy.  I could not seem to get enough of that good stuff.  The content of cotton candy has not changed much  since I was a child.  Although today there are more colors than white, and more markets for cotton candy, one does not have to wait until a carnival comes to town, a fair to start, or any other special occasion.  Cotton candy is available anytime, and most anywhere; Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, and even Amazon.com.  Most interesting is the fact that the cotton candy machine was invented in 1897 by a dentist and a candy maker.   Is it any doubt the consumption of cotton candy  has contributed to the economic success of both the dental profession and the candy industry.

 Cotton candy mainly consists of spun sugar and air.   The large volume  of a stick of cotton candy  is made up of air and only about 1 ounce of sugar.  When one considers the content of cotton candy, it  becomes obvious that cotton candy offers no notable nutritional value.   No one could survive on a diet of only cotton candy.  It would be nutritional suicide for anyone to attempt  to live on such a diet.   What is most interesting is that many Christians  attempt to do just that.  Instead of  physical cotton candy, their diet consist of spiritual cotton candy.  Cotton candy diets made up of pious platitudes, trite quotations,  isolated verses, and emotionally charged phrases.

Although  many Christians are not going to carnivals, fairs, or amusement parks on  Sunday mornings, the atmosphere which they are seeking is much the same.  They are looking for Sunday services that feature emotional excitement, entertaining exclamations, promise  proclamations and a study stream of “cotton candy”.   Some go from place to place looking for that  dynamic praise team to help them “get their praise” on.  Others look for that charismatic  speaker who is more an  inspirational speaker than a Gospel preacher.  More  often then not,  when these goals are met, the seeker leaves  with  only a short-lived feeling  of excitement, only to discover that later on that very day  they are as empty as they were at the beginning of their quest.  Some, in order to satisfy that “sugar high” that cotton candy  gives, turn to their electronic  devices loaded down with “spiritual” songs that sound good but have no Biblical relevance or Scriptural substance.  Is it no wonder we have we have so many under-nourished Christians in our midst.

Proper physical nourishment results in proper physical growth and it follows that proper spiritual nourishment will result in proper spiritual growth.  1 Peter 2:2 urges us to pursue a proper diet: “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:”  (1 Peter 2:2 KJV).  Just as physical babies begin with milk, remaining on milk alone results in “stunted” growth.  The Christians growth towards spiritual maturity depends upon a diet that moves from one made up of only “milk” to a balanced one that includes “meat”.  In this context “milk” refers to elementary Christian instruction mainly focused on the justification aspect of salvation.  1 Corinthians 3 warns  of the consequences of a “milk” only diet: “And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal:” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3a KJV).

The Cross of Christ is not only concerned with “justification”, it is also concerned with “sanctification”.   Feeding on the “meat” of the Word leads toward growth in Christian maturity; in growth in “Christ-likeness”.  Hebrews 5:13-14 tells us “for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:13, 14 ESV).  The fundamental truth of Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8, 9 KJV).  And we must move on to Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10 KJV).  This move is achieved by embracing 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

Let us all endeavor to move from a diet of “Cotton Candy” to the balanced diet of the Word of God as we “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV).