You are what you eat

The health and fitness trend is a multi-billion dollar industry these days. Everyone is talking about health, diet or fitness to one degree or another. I think it’s a good trend to think wisely about our food choices, and being proactive to keep our bodies in shape so we can be prepared for any season we find ourselves in. But more than our physical health, I believe our spiritual health is far more vital and more often ignored. The principles are similar whether we are talking about physical or spiritual health. What you eat or take in makes all the difference.

In the health industry there are so many voices. They each have a new system, or diet or pill you can use. It can be overwhelming if you just start to Google “ways to get healthy”. The road to health could be simplified in just starting one new physical activity and eliminating one unhealthy food group. Becoming spiritually healthy can feel just as overwhelming if you were to start searching all over trying to find the starting point. The great thing about becoming spiritually healthy as opposed to physically healthy, we have it all in one place, the Bible. God couldn’t have made more simple for us to find the words of life.

(Side note before we start, these are not things to incorporate into your life so that you can earn your salvation or be a better Christian. That is done by Christ alone. Rather this is a thought on what to feast on daily for a healthy Christian walk. A way to live life abundantly, not exhausted and overwhelmed.)

The best place to start would be looking at the life of Jesus. What did He do to create good spiritual health? In Matthew 4 Jesus is beginning His ministry. He is baptized and then goes immediately into the desert where He fasted 40 days and nights.

What I find striking about this is, Jesus began his whole earthly ministry by taking time for an intense and extended time to pray and focus on His Father’s will. I believe we often read this and quickly move beyond the 40 days of fasting and focus only on the end when Satan comes to tempt Him. We can’t miss the value of the 40 days prior to that time of temptation. Jesus spent intentional time alone, focused on God alone. He separated Himself from the world around Him. He eliminated food so that wasn’t a distraction. He took the time to pray, rather than focus on all the other daily tasks that might have been important had He been with His community.

Before we get too far I want you to know, I am not saying that we must fast 40 days to get spiritual. The part we need to grasp is, Jesus chose to spend time alone with his Father. It was so important, Jesus – God made flesh, chose to get alone with His Father to be filled up and ready for the tasks ahead. This is something He did often, even after this time in the desert. It was a priority.

He also spent time studying scripture. As a boy He would have memorized much of the Torah (the first 5 books of the Bible). He spent time listening to people teach it and it would have been part of daily discussions. Again, being intentional to know God’s word.

The last thing I notice about the “diet” that Jesus lived by – walking in obedience to God’s will. Jesus was always doing what His Father wanted. He shared His life, time, encouragement with the lost and broken around Him. He didn’t fill His days with tasks that would have made His neighbors covet His lifestyle. He didn’t work day and night to build bigger home or buy new things. He invested in people. He took time to love on them and connect with them, using that time to point them to His Father.

On the flip side, according to tradition, the Pharisees “ate” all the right food. They accomplished long lists of “right actions” daily. They looked and acted as though they had it all figured out. But their hearts were twisted. They were more about doing the right things – the show – more than seeking to have the right heart. Matthew 23 is a long chapter where Jesus shares what the Pharisees’ hearts really were like. Matthew 23:27-28 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. ²⁸ So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

So what is the difference? Both Jesus and the Pharisees studied the same scripture, they followed the same Mosaic laws, they celebrated the same holidays… What made their spiritual health different? For Jesus it wasn’t a show. His focus was on the simplicity of the relationship with His Father. God desires relationship with us not religiously following rules. There is no get spiritual quick pills or tricks. If we desire to be spiritually healthy, we have to be filled by God alone. All other ways we may try leave us spiritually anemic and frail.

At this point the usual comments turn to time. We often feel like we don’t have time to invest time in a relationship with God. We may have young kids or busy jobs, too much house work or demanding schedules. The truth is, we try and feed ourselves daily with many things, we just have to decide if what we are filling ourselves up with is healthy.

During this crazy COVID season, I have read the news or watch news coverage more than ever before. I have been on social medial more. I have talked about world events more than ever before. And I have felt more and more “unhealthy” after each time. It has not created good health in my mind. The things I have tried to fill up on, are killing my peace of mind. I can’t expect to find peace on CNN or seeing how everyone else has spent their quarantine days and any of those other things. That leads to death. Not only is my joy gone but I lose hope “feasting” on that diet. Conversely, if I turn off my phone and use those same minutes to read a verse or two. Pray and meditate through them and think about how to apply it in my daily life, I am far more at peace. I can use those unhealthy times to create new and lasting, more filling times. Like Jesus, being intentional with prayer, reading scripture and seeing to the needs around me, pointing people to my Father. This is how to be filled, so that I can be healthy for what ever season I find my self in.

It isn’t about doing all the right stuff so that we can be a better people, this is about a relationship that when invested in, changes your entire life. You are dearly loved. You are chosen and cherished. The one who created you knows the best way for you to be healthy and not to live a life of overwhelming exhaustion. Like physical health changes, just start with one or two small steps. Turn off distractions and take time to read God’s word. Take time to talk to the Father. Spend time investing in others, pointing them to your Father. It’s not easy to make changes but it will be so worth it!

Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus is a perfect for us. Ephesians 3:14-19 ¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, ¹⁶ that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

More verse on spritual health. Philippians 4:19 Matt 23:25-26 John 6:63 2 Corinthians 12:9 John 15:5 Matthew 19:26 Matthew 7:18 Mark 7:6 John 14:6