Watch Your Diet

‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’

Matthew 4:4


You might be surprised that the bible has a lot to say about food and lots of other things that we put into our bodies. When it comes to food or drugs most of us skip over most of the verses on the subject. Can you remember the last time you stood in front of a mirror or maybe even better in front of your refrigerator or pantry and read the words from 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” Who wants to hear that, right? We need to not only hear it, we need to listen to it and heed God’s word in every area of our lives.

I know throughout most of my life I have paid little attention to those verses in comparison to others. After all, I grew up playing sports and was active and could eat pretty much whatever I wanted and stay thin. We probably all have our favorite go to passages and chapters that we love to read often especially when we want to be encouraged. When I come to passages like 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 I prefer to gloss over them quickly to avoid the conviction I feel, and instead I just thank God for His amazing grace. Now at almost 65 years of age I am reaping what I have sown for years. I am not young any longer and I can’t just eat whatever I want and it’s a lot harder now to lose the weight I both want and need to shed.

Here’s what I know now. All diets are an inside out approach to health. Man really can’t live by bread alone even though my wife who loves bread might be willing to try. The truth is, successful diets begin in your spirit, not your stomach. What makes dieting so difficult is found in the spelling. The first three letters of the word DIET spell DIE and our flesh doesn’t want to die. Here is something to think about today when it comes to your diet, regardless of your weight. Your diet is not just what you eat, Its anything that you allow into your being. Its what you watch, its what you listen too, its what you read, its the conversations you have with the people you associate with. Our diet then is what we put into our body physically, emotionally and most important spiritually. We are spirit, soul and body and we really can do all things through Christ who strengthens us and as Jesus said, “apart from me (Jesus) you can do nothing.”

The key our success in anything worthwhile in this life begins in our spirit, its begins by looking to God in prayer and meditating on the words of 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.” The good news today is God has promised to help us if only we would humble ourselves and ask Him.

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.”

Romans 8:26

I LOVE YOU!