The absent-minded professor strode into his freshman zoology class with a paper bag in his hand and a twinkle in his eye. His broad grin projected the delight he felt in knowing he was about to initiate his rather squeamish students in the methods of animal dissection. In his typical professorial style he proudly announced, "I have brought a frog, fresh from the pond, that we might together study its outer appearance and later dissect it." With that he opened the bag and carefully unwrapped the contents. To his complete puzzlement, there was a ham-on-rye sandwich. "That's strange," he said. "I distinctly remember eating my lunch."

Job 20 tells about a person who recognized that evil can taste good, despite being very bad for the one who partakes of it. Even though Zophar wrongly implied that Job was suffering as a consequence of his sin, the principle he set forth was right: A person who feeds on evil will sooner or later realize what a fool he has been.

Are we careful what we feed on? Is what we take into our minds pure and true and honoring to God? Or are we swallowing the pleasures of sin for a while? We must be careful that our lives are not marked by an absent-mindedness that we will someday regret.  — Mart De Haan