How to Get Off Spiritual Junk Food

One reason so many Christians suffer from spiritual malnutrition is that they live on a diet of junk food, as far as building spiritual character is concerned. Peter is well aware of this and that’s why he says: 

“Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking” (1 Pet. 2:1). 

The Greek word used for “laying aside” actually means to “strip off your clothes.” The same idea is expressed in Hebrews 12:1 where we are told to 

“lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us.” 

Peter talks about five specifics that we should strip out of our lives: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.

Malice was the general word for wickedness. In Peter’s day it meant “heathen evil”—the characteristic evil of the world surrounding the young Christian church. Peter doesn’t advise laying aside some of it; he demands all of it to go. Today’s Christians are no different from those in the first century. Many of us like to play at Christianity and keep worldly practices and values in our lives. But there is no place in the Christian’s life for the garbage of the world.

All deceit also has to go, says Peter. At the root of deceit is impure motives; and this leads to conscious deception of others. But deceit always costs you in the long run, while honesty always pays.

Hypocrisy is another attitude Christians should purge from their lives, just as people would abstain from junk food. Hypocrisy is a natural outgrowth of deceit. Non-Christians always like to point out that the church is full of hypocrites, and unfortunately they are right.

Never be content with keeping this garbage in your life. Strip it off! There is no place in the life of a sincere Christian for hypocrisy.

Envy is a fourth attitude that must be purged from a Christian’s life. Reduced to its basic components, envy is simply self-centeredness. Envy is always the last attitude to die, because it dies only when the self-dies. As most Christians know, the self is hard to kill.

James joins Peter in warning Christians about the demonic influence of envy: 

“But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there” (James 3:14–16).

Slander of every kind (evil speaking) is a fifth attitude that has to go. In a word, Peter is telling us, “Quit your gossiping.” Gossip just might be the most attractive sin for Christians.

It is worthwhile to note how these five items of “spiritual junk food” are all on one large menu. Each attitude seems to feed the other, just as they nourish the Christian who keeps them in his diet. 

The fruit of malice is very often deceit or guile; and deceit and guile lead to hypocrisy, which, in turn, produces the envy. Then the fruit of envy often leads to evil speaking—slanderous gossip. The trouble is, like with all junk food, this garbage tastes good. We’ve acquired a real taste for these evil habits; and it’s hard to break them. What we need is to start feeding on something else to change our taste buds, and that’s what Peter talks about next.