Spiritual Diet; You are what you eat

“You are what you eat. Let’s feast on God’s word today and everyday.” - @hertrueworth

Food is a necessary part of life. God could have just given us one thing to eat, a simple substance to sustain our bodies. But, being the loving Creator that He is, He chose to give us a variety of flavors, textures, shapes, colors, spices, herbs, and SO much more so that we would thoroughly enjoy our food. He knew that food would be something that we took part in multiple times a day and He wanted to make it an enjoyable experience for us.

It’s with that in mind that today I consider the scripture in Matthew 4:4 that says, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Every word from the mouth of God. In order to know what words come from God’s mouth, we would need to be reading the Bible. After all, it is God breathed and inspired. (2 Tim 3:16,17) We also would be wise to remain steadfast in prayer, listening for God’s words that are spoken into our hearts. (Colossians 4:2) In fact, it would be reasonable to conclude that these things must be done with the same consideration as the “bread” or food that we physically take into our bodies.

Just as the nourishment from physical food makes us strong and healthy and keeps our bodies from being weak, so too the word of God will keep our spirit, mind and heart strong and healthy. The enemy will have us believe we are simply “too busy” or "too tired" to sit down and read the word of God. He will have us believe that we can glance at scriptures quoted on social media or read bible based books, and that is enough. There is nothing wrong with doing that but please understand, there is no substitution for the actual experience of opening your Bible and simply reading it. One verse. One chapter. Whatever you can do. God isn’t setting a timer to see how long you read, he is simply looking at your heart's desire and willingness to feed your spirit with his word.

Our mind, heart and spirit need the nourishment of God’s word to counteract the constant bombardment of ‘junk food’ we consume every day. In our actual diet, we can’t eat junk all day then take a multivitamin and expect to be healthy. It may help a little, but there is no substitute for a wholesome, nourishing, healthy diet. When we nourish our bodies, our health is restored. Same is true with our spirituality and the quality of our relationship with the Lord. We must proactively nourish ourselves with “every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Based on Matthew 4:4, the following questions are for your personal consideration:

Do I feel the same about consuming the word of God as I do food?   
Do I thoroughly enjoy it?   
Do I look forward to it?   
Do I ‘feast’ on the word of God?

Perhaps this is a small way we can adjust our mindset to deepen our relationship with the Lord at this time. As we eat our physical food daily, we can simply remember that it is necessary to give the Lord the same, if not more attention to His word. I pray that we all stay alert and aware that we truly are what we eat. So let’s start feasting on the word of God today and everyday! Stay healthy and as always... stay encouraged.