What does your diet consist of?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”
(Matthew 4:4 (NIV))

Besides being necessary to live, eating has become something that has made our society what it is today. It has sparked the creation of cookbooks, diets, cooking utensils, spices, and mood enhancers to create just the special occasion. We have television shows focused on food. We spend so much time thinking about food that we have become obsessed. We have taken that obsession to the smallest detail, and even to the point where we want to flavor enhance water. We have restaurants where you can sit down for long periods of time and slowly enjoy the cuisine. We have restaurants where you are in and out in fifteen minutes or less. We even have the ability to drive through some restaurants and pick up food to go.

We spend so much money, time and effort on the food that feeds us physically, yet we barely spend any time on what feeds us spiritually. Even though most people who profess a faith in Jesus own a Bible, there are many people who never open its pages to feed their spirit. They never venture into the very heart of God. They never feed upon the sweet morsels of truth that the Lord gives us.

Taste and see that the Lord is good;
     blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
(Psalm 34:8 (NIV))

Have you truly tasted of the goodness of the Lord? Have you opened the cover and turned the pages to see His grace and mercy being offered time and time again to a people who ebb and flow with each passing generation? I need to say this. If you don’t spend time in God’s Word and feed upon the sweet spiritual nourishment, it is like someone who goes to a restaurant and only looks at the menu. You only get a glimpse of what is offered. You miss out on the very thing that you claim to want.

It is said that tasting and eating are the most personal of the senses. All other senses allow you to experience what is around you. Eating makes that experience an integral part of you. You are putting something external and foreign into your body. The same can be said of what you feed on spiritually. You are feeding a hunger that can only be satisfied by the Lord. Sadly, too many people try to feed this spiritual hunger with anything and everything that they can think of while completely ignoring the true source that satisfies.

What does your diet consist of?

Copyright 1998 – 2021 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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What are you living on?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”
(Matthew 4:4 (NIV))

What does your diet consist of?

We have a tendency to think that the only thing that matters is what we put into our physical body, and some people don’t even worry about this aspect of their existence. Far too many of us fill out bodies with things that are harmful and we never even think about the consequences.

How many people are actually concerned with the spiritual nutrition that they should be concerned with?

There is an old saying, “Garbage in, garbage out.” Think about that. If you spend time feeding your mind and your spirit foul and harmful garbage, eventually you will get to a point where that is what comes out. You are what you eat, both physically and spiritually.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
(Philippians 4:8 (NIV))

We must embrace the Word. We must read it. We must study it. We must strive to live by it! We must feast on the sweetest truths and the sweetest promises that humanity has ever been given. These sweetest truths and promises can only be found in the very heart of the One who created us. When your diet consists of daily time spent feasting on God’s Word, you grow to understand the very heart of God. This daily diet allows for a fuller life as God intended. It helps you to live in the present and promises an eternal life through the atoning blood of Jesus.

Far too many people are still living on sin.

What are you living on?

Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
Visit us on facebook

What does your diet consist of?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
(Matthew 4:4 (NIV))

We think that we know this passage. We hear it quoted so often, though, that I think we may miss the deeper meaning to these words.

We read them and understand them for the surface meaning where we need more than food to survive. We need the Word of God, and we need God.

I would venture to say that there is also an extended meaning to these words. A meaning that takes what we understand and takes it that one step further.

Is bread physical? Can you see it? Can you touch it? Can you taste it?

Is God physical?

He is exactly opposite. He cannot be seen. He cannot be touched. He cannot be experienced in any of the ways that our physical senses are used to experiencing things. God is spirit. We must encounter Him as He is. This does not mean that God cannot manifest Himself in physical ways, but it does mean that He is primarily in a realm of existence that we do not experience in our physical existence.

We must seek Him beyond the physical realm that we know. We must seek Him in His realm.

Man is like a breath;
his days are like a fleeting shadow.
(Psalm 144:4 (NIV))

In our physical existence, we are here only for a short time. Even in our short, physical existence, God loves us. He wants us to be with Him. He has overcome our physical existence by sending Jesus to the physical world.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:16 (NIV))

We can, and must, reach out to Him in the spiritual realm. We experience God by allowing ourselves to reach beyond the physical and take small glimpses of the spiritual.

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
(1 Corinthians 13:!2 (NIV))

When we live “on every word that comes from the mouth of God,” we begin to see the reflection clearer.

What do you live on?

Copyright 1998 – 2017 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
Subscribe to daily email delivery
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