Your Spiritual Diet

by Jackie Ricks

For the last three years, I’ve been trying to lose weight, but I’m only partially successful. Although I’ve lost about 20 pounds from my weight when I started, I can’t seem to lose any more. I have not been on a particular “diet,” just trying to eat healthier and be more aware of what I’m eating and when. That made me think. Our spiritual life may need to be on a “diet” as well. Just as our bodies must have certain nutrients to be healthy, so does our spiritual life. By the same token, our bodies should NOT have some things or at least have them only in moderation. After all, we gain weight from eating the wrong things—things that are unhealthy. For the same reason, there are things in our lives that are hurting us spiritually that we need to omit so that we don’t carry around “unhealthy fat” in our spiritual lives either. That’s why I decided to investigate this analogy even further and to share with you as well.

First, let’s consider the correct nutrients we SHOULD have in our spiritual diet: Bible reading, Bible study (different from reading), prayer, giving, fruits of the spirit, witnessing, and church involvement. Just as healthy eating will give us what we need to have a strong, thriving body, healthy spiritual habits will give us a flourishing spiritual life. Although I know that many people diet by leaving out certain nutrients: carbs, fat, sugar, etc., I don’t believe that’s the right thing to do. Our bodies need some of all the food nutrients. We must learn to be balanced. The same applies to our spiritual lives. We can’t omit witnessing or giving or anything else and expect to have a balanced Christian life, even if we’ve increased one of the other nutrients.

Now, let’s consider the things that may harm our spiritual lives. Just as indulging in too much sugar or fatty foods may cause significant weight gain that will hide our healthy figures, giving in to cravings by listening to gossip, spreading rumors, or telling off-colored jokes will definitely cause a layer of fat to hide our Christianity from the world. We should leave off the unhealthy habits that hurt us.

The Bible uses food analogies often in scripture. For instance, check out John 6:26-27. Jesus refers to physical food as being temporary but spiritual food as enduring even in eternity. Most of us are also familiar with the passage in Hebrews that mentions the spiritual maturity level as compared to a baby drinking milk or maturing to be able to eat meat. Jesus even refers to Himself as the “bread of life.” (John 6:35 & 48)  

When it comes to things that should be omitted from our spiritual diet, Galatians 5:16-21 discusses several of those. These things are not things that should be in our lives in moderation. No, they are more like poisons that can kill us (or our spiritual lives) if we allow them in. On the other hand, the fruit of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-25 are the spiritual nutrients that we need daily in our lives to have the healthiest spiritual life possible.

We should all be as concerned, or even more so, with our spiritual life and whether we have healthy or unhealthy habits as we are with our physical life. Is your spiritual “diet” what it needs to be? Or do you need to do as I do, include some healthier things, and exclude some unhealthy things. As concerned as most of us are with our physical health, we should be even more concerned with our spiritual health.

SCRIPTURE: Deuteronomy 8:3; Psalm 34:8; 119:103; Matthew 4:4; John 6:26-27; Galatians 5:16-25; Hebrews 5:12-14; and 1 Peter 2:1-5

PRAYER: “Lord, thank You for making me aware that I need to make some changes in my spiritual life to be more what You want me to be and to be a better example to others. Help me to include the things that have been missing and to omit the things that shouldn’t be there. Thank You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

RESPONSE:   What about you? Have you thought of your spiritual “diet” lately?