This is a tougher one, so I’ll give you the end at the beginning: Everything we take in has some impact on us. And, often, we can’t control what the impact will be. Therefore, we need to be careful what we allow in.

Remember, this is a discussion, so I want engagement. My hope through this series is to “begin taking a long, slow walk through some of the issues” facing Christians as we navigate the social and political world of 2025 America. Talk to me!

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The Burden of Freedom

In Mark 7:18-23, Jesus frees His followers from Jewish dietary laws when He declares:

Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Jesus is clearly dealing with the question of whether certain foods “defile” a person – a pertinent issue under Jewish law. God had created boundaries around foods for the Children of Israel: no pork, no shellfish, for example. But Jesus is saying that while eating these things violated the old covenant, they aren’t “sin” in the strictest sense. And under His new covenant, even this won’t matter anymore.

True sins are eternal actions which one should never do. They violate the heart of God, and reflect a human heart that hasn’t been transformed. These are what truly defile a person.

So, when Jesus declared that all foods are “clean,” He meant that certain foods didn’t drive a person away from God, while others would draw one closer. This basic idea would create tension in the infant Christian church for a century (See Acts 15! See Galatians!), and eliminated the barrier from taking the Gospel to all nations.

But we can’t take this freedom too far. Stick with me, and think about it: While all foods are “clean,” all foods are not “healthy.” In other words, eating certain foods while avoiding others can’t directly harm our relationship with God, but that doesn’t mean those foods have no impact on us at all. I can eat bacon for breakfast every day, and go to church with no consequences on my relationship with God. But I can’t eat bacon every day without affecting my relationship with my cardiologist. [1]

By wiping away the restrictions of foods, Jesus didn’t wipe away their impact on my health. In fact, this made things harder: since there are no hard and fast rules, I need to consciously think about what I take in, and how it impacts my ability to work, think, write, love, and encourage. I have to think about whether what I drink now will make me unable to sleep tonight, which will make me less effective tomorrow. I have to think about whether I can really pull off French fries more than once a week, whether soda is really making me feel lethargic, whether I would be easier to get along with if I backed off the salt and brought my blood pressure down. Because taking something off the “sin” list doesn’t take it off the “impact” list. [2]

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“You’ve heard it said…”

This is where I’m going to get myself into trouble, but I wouldn’t take this chance if I didn’t really believe it.

You’ve heard it said: “People need to get off social media.” But I say: “Everything we take in has some impact on us. And, often, we can’t control what the impact will be. Therefore, we need to be careful what we allow in.”

Again, you’ve heard it said: “People need to turn off social media.” But I say, “Agreed. Let’s go all in. Christians should also turn off the news, because it is really impacting us.”

Just because a certain food isn’t sinful, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily healthy, right? The same rule applies to everything we take in. All media, like all entertainment, like all food, has some impact on us. Some of these products make us healthier. Some of them make us unhealthier. Often, like with food and drink, different products impact each person differently. Gluten impacts each person differently. Same with sugar.

Same with news, right? It’s just another product we consume, right? I know how too much engagement with the news impacts me, because of the times I’ve gone cold turkey and seen my attitude change. My wife sure noticed it! When I turn off the news, I’m less agitated. Less fearful. More hopeful. More aware of other people. More patient. In short, more Godly. And it doesn’t matter what type of news I’ve been taking in: conservative news, liberal news, commentary, reporting, quick hits or investigative reports – they all impact me.

It doesn’t matter whether I frequent McDonald’s or Burger King: none of it is healthy, and too much of any of it is unhealthy. That’s what I’m talking about with everything we take in. It’s easy to say that “social media is the problem” when you don’t use social media very much. But what about cable news? What about newspapers? What about your favorite podcast? What about blogs? What about Facebook? When we talk about the difference between Fox News and Twitter, or between MSNBC and TikTok, we might not be talking about the difference between a garden salad and a cheeseburger. We might be talking about McDonald’s vs. Burger King. And I love McDonald’s, just like many of you love cable news. But what we take in impacts us.

Now, maybe that’s just me. Maybe everyone else can handle it. But I doubt it. Either way, I don’t want to become desensitized to the way media impacts me. In fact, I wish I was more aware of how every intake affects me, so I can keep myself Godly and fit.

I know someone who is allergic to peanuts. How allergic? Once, she took one step into my office, stopped, and asked, “Did you eat peanuts?” I said yes, a PB&J sandwich, an hour ago. Her throat had started to constrict, and she immediately knew the likely cause.

I would love to be that sensitive with the media I take in. To know instantaneously how some input was affecting me, to know whether it will make me more or less fit, more or less Godly, more or less anxious, more or less likely to see my fellow citizens as enemies or allies, more or less likely to love my neighbor as myself.

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Questions? Comments?  Please submit a comment On the Intro Page.  I want to hear from you!