A Lesson from my Call to Poison Control

The other day I was in the kitchen making dinner when my little two year old Jesse came in and started burping and then actually vomiting. My first thought was, “Oh, great, I thought we’d finally gotten healthy again!” But Jesse didn’t have the flu, he had an illness far more deadly: an idolatrous sinful heart. One of my older children came up to me at the stove and said, “Dad, look – all our gummy vitamins are gone.” I thought, “Wow, those didn’t last very long.” But then it hit me. Little Jesse had beat the child-safety lid and eaten them all! This was no small feat. We buy the mega size gummy jars from Sam’s Club – the kind that hold 275. Jesse ate about 200 vitamin gummies and was now having a serious indigestion problem. In a moment I was on the phone with poison control. To sum it up, the type of vitamins he ate would not poison him. His system would expel any unneeded vitamins. Praise God that Jesse didn’t get into something more dangerous!

            I’m reminded of what the Proverbs say:

^NIV Proverbs 25:16 If you find honey, eat just enough-- too much of it, and you will vomit.

^NIV Proverbs 25:27 It is not good to eat too much honey, nor is it honorable to seek one's own honor.

What in the world possessed little Jesse to eat a pile of gummies the size of a softball? Sin. Toddlers love gummy snacks. If 8-10 gummy bears are yummy, surely 200 would be even better! But we can have too much of a good thing. In fact most of our idols are not pure evil - inherently wicked in every dimension. Most of our idols are good things that we honor (overindulge in or mis-prioritize) above God. Toddler Jesse overindulged in gummies and paid the price – literally vomiting up all the “honey” he gorged himself on.

I wish I could say that our hearts were cured from the sickness of idolatry in our toddler years. Unfortunately, they are not. I’ve met men who gorged themselves on work, to the point that they were burnt out, divorced and disengaged from their children. I’ve met men and women who abused some substance so thoroughly that they self-destructed every dimension of life. I’ve met women who were such fixers, that they were enslaved to helping others – so completely needing to be needed that they too did not find the love, peace and joy that Christ (the only Savior) offers.

            The bottom line is that our hearts are desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9). Our hearts are little “idol-making factories” – constantly displacing the Lord God with other things. What are we to do? One thing is we must consult “Poison Control” – i.e. consult the Scriptures and pray for discernment in identifying idols. Until we recognize what good thing we have turned into a poison by improperly loving it we will not realize our danger. William Greenhill in his book Stop Loving the World wrote, “We meditate most on the things we love.” What do you think a lot about? This may indicate that you’re swallowing fistfuls of gummy bears. Be warned – in seeking your own honor your life may manifest symptoms of indigestion and you may soon be forced to endure the bitter experience of vomiting up what you used to think sweet.

The other thing to consider is that Christ is the only thing you can never have too much of. Paul wrote, “Christ is all.” (Col 3:11) It is impossible to think too highly or too much of Jesus. It is impossible to love Jesus too much. In fact it is only as we love and enjoy Christ first and above all others that we can safely indulge in all lesser loves. So whether you eat or drink, do all to the glory of God. (1 Cor 10:31)