Eating Twinkies with Friends

Good morning, everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Lighten up a little”

Our Bible verse for today: “God sets the lonely in families …” Psalm 68:6 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Eating Twinkies with friends”

Our church (Oak Hill Baptist) is a very active church. We have lots of mission trips and community service projects that take us, as a congregation, outside the walls of the church buildings to do things together for others. We also have lots of fun social activities (Shawn and Amanda Reagan are our ministers of fun. It’s their job to think up fun stuff for the rest of us to do – and they’re very good at it.) My point is that our church life is vibrant and alive – we’re actively on-mission with Jesus in the world and we have a lot of fun together.

That’s an important aspect of church life and it helps us to understand why it’s so important for every Christian to be part of a good church family. Gathering with the church family should be a time of spiritual nurture, healing, encouragement, blessings, laughing, loving, and fun. If your church isn’t like that then I encourage you to take the initiative to begin turning it into that. And if you don’t have a church home then visit with us. Very quickly you will feel right at home.

Psychologists tell us that one of the most troubling and saddest maladies that people suffer from is loneliness. Lonely people are much more likely to be unhealthy and to die younger than those who have lots of family and friends. Church should be a haven for lonely people. God leads lonely people to church so they will have friends and so they will be part of a family environment. Jesus wants His people to be upbeat, joyful, and laughing a lot. If you want a good laugh, just hang around Oak Hill Baptist Church for a little while. We’ll fix you right up!

I read a statement recently that really caught my attention and helped to convince me all over again that we all need to be part of a good church family. It was a health study conducted by researchers from the Harvard Medical School. They tracked 7,000 people over nine years, studying their overall health and evaluating the conditions that produced that health in that person. Here’s what it said, “People who had bad health habits (such as smoking, poor eating habits, obesity, or alcohol use) but strong social ties lived significantly longer than people who had great health habits but were isolated.”

That does not mean that smoking, overeating, or overdrinking are good things. It means that loneliness is a bad thing – so bad that it’s worse for you than poor lifestyle habits.

Do you realize what this means? Eating Twinkies with friends is better than eating broccoli alone! It’s true! The research proves it!

I encourage you today to find some friends, eat some Twinkies, and laugh – laugh a lot.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you are reading in these daily devotionals and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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