Feeding Your Soul.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4).
These two passages from the Bible bring about a very necessary teaching for today’s believe and disciple of Christ Jesus. The word of God is a teaching that has great value and it will help us be thoroughly equipped for life. And these teachings are like food.
Think about the full range of options that we have when it comes to food. Stroll through Whole Foods and the pick up your organic items so that you can build a healthy meal for your family. That is one option. But then the season of Christmas get harried and busy so you stop by Wendy’s or Cane’s for a quick meal to fill the gullet. You can go to Wendy’s and eat all of your meals there but that does not guarantee you good health. Eventually it is important to return to a more stable and beneficial diet of good vegetables, fruits and healthier meats.
What are the spiritual foods that we take part of on a daily basis? The best source of spiritual nutrition is the Word of God as it is found in the 66 books of the Old and New Testament. But is that the only spiritual food that we take in during the week?
I’m going to shift our metaphor slightly with this next passage: “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness” (Luke 11:34).
What teaching (spiritual food) do your eyes take in during the week? Or your ears? What sitcoms or youtube shorts are you watching? They are feeding your soul. Those teachings fill you up; but is it good and profitable or is it spiritual junk food? Or worse - is it spiritual poison? TikTok could potentially be entertaining (that’s my cynical 50+ mind) but it could also be filling our souls with things that we were not meant to spiritually ingest.
Snapchat and the movies I pick out can become predominant teachings (food) in my life. An important set of questions to ask about the spiritual food that we are taking in is this:
Is this necessary for my relaxation at this point?
Is this entertainment taking over my view of life and my ethics?
Is this becoming an obsession?
Does my ingesting of the Word of God get overrun by my other spiritual choices?
Is this harmful to me?
Do I truly benefit from this or is it more in line with junk food or poison?
Let’s consider these morsels of God’s truth and let His Word be our steady diet so that we grow up to being fully equipped for the work of God in this dark world!
“How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through your precepts I get understanding;
therefore I hate every false way” )Psalm 119:103-104).
“Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
O Lord, God of hosts” (Jeremiah 15:16).
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17).
Blessings to you all as you digest this most beautiful banquet that God has prepared for us in His Word!