Have you ever gone on a junk food binge? I sure have. My biggest temptation is sweets. I can be at the mall around lunchtime with all the different aromas of food filling the air and the one thing I am drawn to is a warm gooey Cinnabon! Once I see it, I’m hooked. And no Cinnabon is complete unless it’s smothered in extra icing. In fact, just thinking about it makes me want to run out to the mall and order one. (To my credit I do wash it down with a glass of low-fat milk!)
Let’s face it. We all have certain foods we are drawn to. They are so tasty but often are of little or no nutritional value. If eaten in excess, it will be downright harmful to our health. We are what we eat! What stops me from reckless abandonment and binging Cinnabons is that I count the cost. Do the math, one Cinnabon = 880 calories. To burn that many calories would take about 230 minutes of brisk walking… and that’s without the extra icing! Have you ever noticed the more you eat carbohydrates (i.e.: sugar), the more you want, and if you are not careful it can send you swirling into a junk food frenzy.
It’s the same spiritually. If we gorge ourselves on the latest movies, video games, internet sights, or TV shows, but seldom feed on the Bible, we shouldn’t be surprised if we’re not spiritually healthy! If your spiritual intake consists of a ‘sugary’ devotional that you grab on the run or an occasional sermon when you’re not doing anything else on a Sunday, don’t be surprised if you are feeling spiritually sluggish. You aren’t feeding your soul with proper nutrition.
Eating is a necessary response to the body’s needs. You eat when you are hungry. The world around us feeds us all kinds of things that mask our true hunger. It may be money, possessions, or prestige under the illusion they will satisfy. The reality is, it’s only temporary and can open the door to becoming an idol.
Remember….Where your treasure is there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21)
Ask yourself, how often do I feed my soul on the things of God? In Matthew 4:4 Jesus says, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” We need a consistent diet of worship, God’s word, and prayer to be spiritually healthy.
- As we listen to a sermon and meditate on a scripture, our soul is being nourished with hope, faith, wisdom and strength.
- As we worship, our heart will overflow with love and adoration for God.
- As we pray, our faith and dependency on God increases.
Now, eating is a personal thing. No one can eat for you… not your Pastor, your parents, a friend or the leader of your Connect group. If you want to be spiritually healthy you must feed yourself.
One of the greatest gifts God gave us is the free will to choose what we do with our time and the nourishment we take in both physically and spiritually. So each day as you open your eyes to a brand new day, remember the abundant life we are called to live (John 10:10). If we nourish ourselves with spiritually rich foods and resist ‘junk food’, we will begin to see our lives transformed into something beautiful. That is Jesus’ promise to us.