Lately my busyness has resulted in somewhat of an odd eating pattern. If I find time in the morning I will drink one teaspoon of milk. During my 8-5, I think about being able to drink another teaspoon of milk, but who has time for food in the middle of a work day? At the end of the day, if I am lucky, I find a short moment for dinner and I will have a teaspoon of honey.
I do get hungry during the weekdays, but I can usually ignore the symptoms due to my constant activity. By the time the weekend rolls around I find myself starving – finally feeling the effects of an empty stomach. On Saturday, because my hunger pains are so bad, I try to find some time to enjoy a full, solid meal. Man does is taste good! I fill up my stomach, and afterwards feel full and refreshed, reminded of why food is essential for the body. Unfortunately, this pattern keeps on repeating itself, as there are tasks to accomplish, places to be, and people to see – and often enough, food gets pushed to secondary importance.
Truth be told, food and I are too good of friends for the above scenario to be true, but this is how I have been treating my time in the Word and filling myself with “The Bread of Life” for the past few months.
Just as food is essential to the body for the body to function as it is created, so too, the Word is of utmost importance for spiritual nourishment.
This weekend, I found myself once again feeling the negative effects of a week without ample time with God and in His Word. As I felt the pity party beginning to creep its way into my mind, or in other words, as my mind began to entertain the lies of the enemy, I knew it was essential to remind myself of the TRUTH. As I spent time in the Word, I was reminded of God’s promises for me, and the lies were washed away. If sporadic time in the Word is so transformational, how much more would a consistent diet of feeding on the Word affect my life!
Scripture points us to the importance of spiritual nourishment. After a forty-day fast, the enemy comes to tempt Jesus, as he says in Matthew 4:4,
“If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Also see Deuteronomy 8:3.)
Keep in mind, Jesus must have been physically starving and He could have easily turned the stones into bread! However, He leaves us with a more important lesson – the Word of God is of absolute necessity to our lives.
One area of necessity is the renewing of our minds. Our thoughts follow what we feed our mind, so it is crucial to feed our minds the truth. As I go throughout my day my mind is constantly being fed things that are contrary to the truth that the Bible tells me. Social media may whisper “compare, compare”…the news may scream,”fear, fear”…and my own flesh may say, “me, me.” I must stop these thoughts in their tracts and combat them by feeding on scripture – and then as I turn my eyes to Jesus and His gospel, my spirit can rest in the fact that I do not have to compare, because I am “perfectly made,” I do not have to fear because “perfect love casts out all fear,” and most importantly I am reminded that my life is part of a much bigger story than myself – it is part of God’s story of grace and redemption for all of his children.
It is also of importance to take note that in Matthew 4:4, Jesus makes the enemy flee by quoting the Word itself! Just as Jesus made the enemy flee by reciting scripture, so we too can make the enemy flee and are less susceptible to his schemes when we are building up our faith by reading the Word.
Furthermore, the Word is not merely for words of encouragement or a “how-to” on right living, but experiencing the Word is experiencing God himself. As John 1:1 states,“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” If I were to meditate long enough on this truth, it seems unfathomable that I would not want to jump out of bed each morning ready to meet God one-on-one in His Word.
So, if you happen to see me in the coming weeks, ask me what I have been eating. I hope to respond that I’ve been eating more than a teaspoon of milk for my daily meal – some good ol’ eggs, bacon, pancakes,and biscuits and gravy sounds about right! By the way, there is room at the table!
Additional reference: http://biblesforamerica.org/the-bible-as-our-spiritual-food/