This morning I am thinking about how eating the right foods for our body is so much like filling our souls with the right thoughts. The parallel is pretty amazing if you think about it .
When we eat food that is overly processed and is laden with sugar and unhealthy fats, stripped of nutritional value, it is so unsatisfying. Junk food leaves us craving more of it. Why? Because our body isn’t getting supplied with all the vitamins and minerals it’s needing. Junk food leaves you unsatisfied. It leaves us craving more and more just trying to satisfy the needs of our bodies! Yes it might taste good at the moment, but ultimately it will drag you down, suck your energy, and leave you with an empty feeling. Between the stress we live under and the unhealthy foods we eat, it’s no wonder there are so many diseases, chronic ailments, not to mention all the problems of being overweight. We ultimately really are what we eat! What we eat affects not only our weight, but our mood, energy level, performance and overall health! On the flip side, when we eat healthy, natural, God-made food, our bodies are satisfied because we are fueling it with what it needs to run efficiently. Just like if you put the wrong fuel in your gas tank of your car. Your car will not run as efficiently or perform the way it was designed to.A balanced diet of God-made foods will fuel your body with all it needs to do all the amazing things God designed it to! You may not know how bad you feel, until you feel good by fueling your body with the right stuff! Yes, it takes effort, self-discipline and self-control, but it is so worth it!
The same is true with what we feed our soul! As humans we seek comfort, belonging, worth, significance, joy and peace. We seek direction, wholeness, wisdom and love. We often times, unfortunately, seek these innate needs to be met in the wrong places! In fact, most times people do. We search for our souls to be satisfied in the stuff of this world. We look to accomplishment, relationships, status, money, looks.... the list can go on. Although there is definitely beauty and happiness in this world, none of it will truly satisfy us. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can do that! Only a relationship with Him can fill our hearts with the peace, joy, fulfillment, significance and love that our souls long for! Only feeding upon his Words will give us the direction and wisdom we need every day! 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” His word has all the spiritual “nutrients” we need for everything! Any other thing we hope to fill our souls with, will ultimately leave us craving more. Ephesians 3:17-19 says,”that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with the fullness of God.” To know Christ, to be filled with His Spirit and His love is what we crave and long for! Only He can satisfy our soul! Anything else is fleeting and empty!
Truer words there aren’t! God wants to feed us His word, we need only to submit to be filled. The Spirit of the Lord gives us this power. 2 Tim 1:7