Spiritual Eating

Several years ago someone I am close to was battling an eating disorder; anorexia.  Anorexia destroys the body through lack of nourishment.  A person literally starves themselves to death.  As I watched this person grow more and more thin, destroying their own flesh, the Lord spoke a “parable” to my spirit. 

“That’s what many believers look like spiritually” He said.

In America most of us feed our physical body at least three meals each day, but we often only “feed” our spirit-man once a week (usually Sunday morning).   I want to challenge all of you to ask the Lord what your body looks like spiritually.  Are you healthy, or do you look like a victim of the holocaust?  Jesus calls Himself the Bread of Life.

John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

 Do you daily partake of Him and His word?  To take it farther, do you feed your spirit as often as you feed your flesh?

Hard questions I know, but let me take a turn and make it even harder. . .on the other side of anorexia you have the extreme of obesity.  Now you might be thinking that to be “spiritually obese” is a good thing.  Think again!  God uses the natural to show us the spirit over and over.  If obesity is unhealthy naturally, it is also unhealthy spiritually.  This is why.

In the natural, if you sit on your couch eating all day you will grow fat and useless to your family.  You won’t be able to toss the football with your kids, or chase your two year old up a flight of stairs.  Your body needs to take in the right amount of nutrients to fuel all of life’s activities.  Your body uses the fuel to play, work, hike, swim, carry a baby, paint a fence, etc.  You are meant to eat nutritious food and then GO DO SOMETHING!

Likewise if you sit on your couch all day reading the bible and praying you will grow spiritually obese and good for nothing!  Whoa Angela, that’s harsh.  Well, ever heard the saying “To heavenly minded to be any earthly good”?  Spending time with God in prayer and in His word is crucial to every believer just as taking in healthy food is good for the body.  But the same way the body is meant to use that food for energy, so the spirit is meant to use the “Bread of Life” to serve God’s kingdom.

Matthew 25:34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'

As a personal trainer I am not a fan of a “Mr. Flat-Bottom”. . .AKA someone who sits around on their behind all day!  May I suggest that God is not a fan of a spiritual “Mr. Flat-Bottom” either.  We are not meant to be bench warmers in the church pews.  We are meant to serve others and be a light to a dark world.  This would be considered “spiritual” exercise! I challenge you to look at yourself both spiritually and physically.  Are your “eating/exercise” patterns disordered in either area? 

Just offering a little “food” for thought!