Are You Spiritually Malnourished?

Periodically on the news you see horrifying accounts of starvation and thirst in third-world countries. We naturally feel sympathy for those who must endure such extreme suffering.

There is another kind of malnourishment, every bit as damaging and probably even more prevalent in the world today, but it is not so readily visible to the untrained eye.

Spiritual malnourishment is the cause of much that is wrong in today's society. Contributing factors include pervasive and blatant disregard for God's commandments; halfhearted, irregular prayer (if one prays at all); infrequent, casual scripture study (if one reads at all); and rampant deception, dishonesty, profanity, pride and immorality.

Spiritual malnourishment leads to an inability to feel gratitude, love, and the Spirit. It causes one to feel discouraged and depressed. Intent on filling up the emptiness they feel inside them, spiritually-malnourished individuals often turn to drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling, money and other selfish pursuits instead of turning to God.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said—

"[I]n our contemporary success and sophistication [many] walk away from the vitally crucial bread of eternal life; [many] actually choose to be spiritually malnourished, willfully indulging in a kind of spiritual anorexia."

The solution is humility. When we are humble, we show the Lord we are willing and actually hungry to learn. The Lord will not deny knowledge to those who seek it; He will not deny living water to those who thirst for it. Humility entails admitting that we are often wrong, that we don't have all the answers, and that we are powerless to make it through this life without God.

The blessings of humility are best illustrated in this simple verse of scripture—

Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.