There are two extremes when it comes to a food diet...starving and excess. Last week was my vacation week and I should probably use this time to repent! What on earth is a guy to do when his condo has three kinds of brownies, ice cream, and a key lime pie? That would be like putting a boy in the dirt and telling him not to get dirty! I was even tricked by someone in Satan's army into eating chicken and waffles with some sort of butter sauce! But I am very pleased to say that after a week at home on a normal diet and week one of training for my first half marathon...the bloated and sluggish feeling is gone.All that to say that there is a similar diet that we are in great need of maintaining. Many of us are dying of starvation, our lives are weak and we do not even know why. The answer is found when Jesus tells us that we are to live not only on steak and potatoes but also the Word of God (Matt. 4:4). I am learning more and more every day that to take in the instruction and encouragement of Holy Scripture is exactly what it takes to strengthen my weakest areas in life. Whether it be relationships which suffer, emotional struggles, or a lack of hope in life...taking in the God breathed words of Scripture never fail to fill the void of life.
The flip side of this conversation is the chicken and waffles, three kinds of brownies, ice cream, and key lime pie. Just because I eat does not mean I am nourished or able to push through the day. In my creativity I could justify the dairy and fruit of this diet...this is two of the major groups! But it is the excess combined with idleness that does me in (surely I am not the only one to overdo a pie to the necessity of loosing the belt because it has fruit in the name!). In John 4, the disciples were concerned about their rabbi as he had neglected his diet. In a very odd response to a request for him to eat, Jesus tells them that he is quite satisfied by a food they don't know about. What Jesus did here is take Matt 4:4, put the Word of God to action, and claim that this is the most strengthening his body could experience. “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work." (John 4:34). Calories without activity makes you sluggish, we are to put God's Word into action so the instruction does not sour in our stomach.
Over the past few weeks I have experienced a great fulfilling of this statement in my life. It is my prayer that you too would engage in the Word of God, receive the promise of life, and have your feeble knees strengthened by the voice of our God which strikes with flashes of lightning! (Heb 12:12, Psalm 29:7)
If you are in need of assistance in your daily diet of God's Word...contact me here or through facebook.
