Everybody who knows me knows that my favorite TV show of all time is The Cosby Show. I love it for many reasons, but mostly just because it was funny and boy did I love how Theo dressed, especially in the last few seasons of the show. One of the most poignant episodes was the very first. In one part, Theo brings home a D on his report card. When questioned about it he gave his usual blithe response, “No Problem.” But, hid dad, Dr. Huxtable wanted to show him that he was going to have many problems if he kept getting Ds in school.
To illustrate his point Dr. Huxtable pulls out the old monopoly money to show Theo what life would look like in the real world. When it came time to figure out how much money he’d need for food, Theo said he could “get by on bologna and cereal.”
That’s an interesting concept. Theo thought he could live on bologna and cereal was because it was among the cheapest foods you can buy. He wasn’t interested in nutrition or health, just getting by.
That reminds me of how many of us approach life with a “get by” mentality. We not only have bologna and cereal eating habits shown through the high obesity rates. But, too many of us have bologna and cereal marriages, bologna and cereal study habits, bologna and cereal relationships and bologna and cereal churches. We are unfulfilled in these areas, but we’re only doing enough to “get by.”
What’s worse is when you figure out that bologna is made from pig intestines and most cereals, especially the cheap kind, are mass produced, processed foods, neither of which makes for healthy living. A lifetime of this kind of diet will certainly send you to an early grave. No less, if we don’t change our bologna and cereal mentality, we will die a spiritual death as well.
God says, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from His mouth. We have to change our diets from just “getting by” to “getting better.” God wants you to live better and eat better, but you will have to decide if you want what easiest and cheapest or if you want put in the word and tap into what your eyes haven’t seen or your ears heard, the next level.
Ironically enough, Dr. Huxtable’s conversation with Theo had a profound effect. The last and final episode of The Cosby Show ends with Theo graduating from college and headed to graduate school. He gave up the bologna and cereal for meat and potatoes.
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