By David Wallace

The human digestive system works on a simple principle. Food goes in, waste goes out. Along the way, the body is nourished. Sometimes, though, something goes wrong and constipation results. Food goes in, nothing comes out. Along the way, the body hurts. Pain is a clear signal of malfunction.

The human spirit works on a similar principle. Food goes in, fruit goes out. Along the way, the spirit is nourished. Sometimes, though, something goes wrong and spiritual constipation results. Food goes in, nothing comes out. Along the way, the spirit hurts, but the signal it sends is more subtle than physical pain.

Rather than abdominal cramps, spiritual constipation manifests itself as apathy, boredom, and cynicism. Sermons become repetitive. Books fall flat. Music lacks passion. The search for the new and the different becomes more intense, more frantic.

The search is misleading. Another talk or another article will not solve the problem, because the root issue is not input, but output. The spirit is stopped up, always taking in, yet never putting out. Input alone can never nourish. The solution is found at both ends of the system.

First, improve input. Cut back on the podcast sermons, the blogs, the books. Increase Scripture and quiet attention to the Spirit. Like a physical diet, reduce empty input and replace it with nutritious food of substance. Eliminating junk food removes distractions and breaks the addiction to spiritual hype. Adding eternal truth grounds the soul and prepares the spirit for the next step; increasing output.

Selfishness limits output. Focus on self leads to an addiction to input as the only route to growth. Growth, however, never results from constipation, but only from the flow of input and output. Fundamentally, output is the result of input processed through a spirit nourished along the way. The myriad of unique output can be grouped into two broad categories, service and contribution.

Service is physical output, input in action. Through service, the words and ideas in sermons and books are brought to life. Selfishness loses control in the face of action. This can be feeding the poor, loving a child, or bringing the Gospel to the lost. There are no restrictions on service, only possibilities as input is transformed to impact. Food goes in and service goes out, nourishing the spirit along the way.

Contribution is mental and spiritual output: input processed and returned to nourish others. Through contribution, God continues to renew His people with words, images, and music. Playing a song, painting a picture, or writing an article provides fresh input for others, refreshing the community while the contributor avoids stagnation by processing input into something new.

The signs of spiritual constipation are subtle, but the underlying disorder is real. Left untreated, it leads to far worse than a dull sermon or empty music. It leads to a dull spirit and an empty life. Fortunately, the solution is simple. Serve. Contribute. Input and output, nourishing full life along the way.