Stress: Oatmeal as a Band-aid

Last post, I talked about my high blood pressure and the connection between my stress and my pride.  Certainly this week my pride was tested, tried and true over and over. What’s interesting is that people still talk to me about eating oatmeal.  I understand the connection between oatmeal and lowing blood pressure and I’m grateful they care about my well-being.  I also understand that we need to learn more about our bodies and how to take care of them, because after all, they are “the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 6:19).  And so, if we truly believe this truth as a Christ-follower, we shouldn’t be so negligent with our bodies (which is a whole set of posts themselves).

But to call a spade a spade, oatmeal is a band-aid.  Oatmeal may help lower my blood pressure, but it won’t help my stress and if it doesn’t attack the root of the stress (i.e. pride), it’s only going to have a minimal affect.  It’s like wearing a band-aid when heart surgery is in order.  It’s like replacing a ceiling without fixing the giant hole in the roof.  It’s like getting a new paint job on the car without grinding down the rust.  Jesus says in Mark 7:18-23:

“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”) He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.  All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean’” (emphasis mine).

Jesus had been talking with the Pharisees (the religious leaders) and combating their focus towards outward rituals, traditions, and cleansing practices to make one “clean” before God.  Jesus says that the food you eat doesn’t make one unclean or clean, for a person is unclean or clean in their heart.  The food is merely going into the stomach and out…  Basically saying that if you eat oatmeal, you don’t poop pride.  The more significant and important items that do go in and come out of a man or woman are their thoughts, actions, words and attitudes.  It is those things that come from within.  I like how Jesus illustrates this similarly in Matthew 7:17-18:

“Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.”

One can’t expect to get something good when the inside is all messed up.  One can’t say that the inside is good when the outside shows otherwise.  Here’s where the smoke screen begins to thin and we can start seeing what’s behind it.  I don’t want to be negative, but I want to be truthful.  I really believe that if we can start here, then we would be well on our way to deal with the root of the problem.  And if we can talk about the root of the problem, then we can talk about the solution.  It’s merely asking the right question to get the right answer.  Much more to talk about in the next few posts as we go down this path.

I wonder what would happen if people would have come to me and asked “how’s the pride today?,” rather than “you been eating oatmeal?”.  Maybe that’s the mark of a wise person that cares and a leader that cares?  Well, I’d probably have too much pride to be truthful in the moment; but if I knew you were sincere, you might get the confession of your life.  So, Can you handle that truth?