Tag: protein

Painful Progress: The Benefits Of Experiencing God’s Discipline

Friday’s Column: Brent’s Bent

“For the moment, all discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (Hebrews 12.11 NASB).

My lumbar muscles started spasming as I sat in the infusion chair. This was also the case the last time I took this medication. My body must get used to the medicine before these side- effects disappear. Unfortunately, I had to restart the drug due to abscesses that had formed in my abdomen. Since my treatment weakens my immune system, any bacteria in abscesses may get more robust and harder to treat. So, I have to start over and take the loading dose before switching to getting an infusion every eight weeks.

These anti-inflammatory drugs target a tumor necrosis factor protein. The normal function of TNF is beneficial because it eliminates necrotic (dead) tissue. Necrotic tissue is absent, however, in autoimmune disorders. However, a rogue inflammatory response causes the body to attack itself regardless. When the immune system kills healthy cells instead of invaders, it puts the body under a lot of stress. So, you have no choice but to take what might seem like an extreme step to fix your health problem, which will hurt your immune system in the long run. However, autoimmune diseases are unusual and necessitate drastic measures.

In Hebrews 12.4–11, the inspired author discusses God’s discipline and compares it to the discipline people receive from their earthly fathers, which is not always good. Even though we know they aren’t perfect, we usually don’t hold them accountable when they discipline us because we think it’s for our good. If this is the case with a physical father, it must be even more so with the Father of our spirits. Indeed, our heavenly Father disciplines us so that we can become holy and live righteously. That’s why, although this form of discipline isn’t fun and may even be uncomfortable at times, we can’t help but value the result.

So, the next time you have “conscience spasms,” consider how they are a sign that God’s medicine is purging you of impurity.

Brent Pollard

2 + 2 = MILK

Thursday’s Column: Captain’s Blog
Carl Pollard
 
 
28 US states have an official state beverage. 21 of those 28 chose milk.
Russians used to put frogs in their milk buckets. That seems strange at first, but frogs secrete an antibiotic liquid from their skin that keeps milk from spoiling. To get the measure of calcium that’s in an 8 ounce glass of milk, you’d need to eat 7 oranges, 1/4 cup of broccoli, or six slices of bread. In a recent report, the countries whose residents consume the most dairy per capita, win the most Nobel Prizes.
 
This may seem like a strange list of random milk facts and that’s because it is. It’s almost as if I Googled “strange milk facts.” But there’s a point to all the milk facts. The church at Corinth had problems. There was division. They failed to have unity. Paul wrote to them in an attempt to correct these issues. Because of their problems, Paul had to deal with them like little children. Since they displayed this childlike spirituality, Paul gave them milk because they couldn’t handle meat.
 
There is a very clear distinction between milk and meat. It is up to us to discern between milk and meat. Our end goal is spiritual maturity as Christians.
 
In 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, Paul writes, “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?”
 
When compared side by side, milk and meat are quite similar. Both milk and meat contain high levels of protein. Both milk and meat have fat (unless it’s skim milk aka “white water). This isn’t that surprising since they both usually come from the same source. The content of milk and meat is basically the same.
 
This principle is true in the world of education. You see this in reading, writing, math, and history. From Pre-K through college the same things are taught but with increasing complexity. In math, the milk would be 2+2 while the meat would be the square root of 10. The milk can be easily understood and the answer isn’t too hard to come up with. 2+2=4. While the meat is harder to answer since the number 10 is not a perfect square which has a number 0 at its unit place. Since the number 10 is an even number but not a prime number, it has 4 multiple factors: 1,2,5 and 10. The square root of 10 would be 1.414×2.236 which gives us the approximate answer of 3.162. Okay enough math. Do you see the difference?
 
Milk and meat have the same content, but at different levels of difficulty. Spiritual milk contains the same teaching as spiritual meat. The same spiritual nutrition is contained in both. All teachings in scripture, whether milk or meat, comes from the inspired word of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17). By drinking the milk of the word and eating the meat of scripture, there will be spiritual growth. Whether it is milk or meat it still contains the same basic truths, but at varying levels of difficulty.
 
With these facts in mind, we can deduce several points:
  1. New converts cannot digest meat.
  2. Christians must mature and grow from milk to meat.
  3. There is spiritually a time and place for both.