eating Jesus

As I’ve been mastering the art of stress eating these past few weeks, I’ve been reminded of the simple cliché, “You are what you eat”. Let me develop this cliché by appending these additional phrases: “You eat what you love. You are what you eat. Over time, you express what you love. ” I’m going to be real with y’all—I love French fries, gummy worms, cake, hamburgers, chick-fil-a sauce, etc. I’ve been eating a lot of these yummy foods in past weeks and they have been subtly assimilating themselves into my body. Now, as I look in the mirror, I see that these subtly assimilated foods have not so subtly expressed themselves through my physical appearance. Although I am less than enthused about the consequences of my poor eating habits, they did cause me to reflect on another kind of diet that I have been neglecting—my spiritual diet.

God Wants to Change our Diet

As Christians, we need a change of diet. Once we are saved, we are no longer of this world, but there is a need for a reconstitution of our being (John 17:16). Why? Because we still have the world and its worldly elements in us. Let me ask a practical question. If I become a healthy eater tomorrow, will all the bad food that has been in me disappear? No! It’ll all still be there. Likewise, when we exit the world, does the world immediately exit us? No, the world is still there. Thus, even after salvation and baptism, the world lingers in us. That’s why, when we are saved, there may be no dramatic change in our behavior or personality. We may still do what we did before our salvation. We may still like what we liked before we were saved. It’s common to still be “ourselves” after salvation and baptism, but we need to allow the Lord to come in and change our diet from the world to Christ.

One good example of the Lord coming in to change a people’s diet is found in the Old Testament. In Exodus 12, Jehovah brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, typifying salvation from the world (Exodus 12:51). Then in chapter 14, He brought them across the Red Sea, typifying baptism and being crucified to the world (Exodus 14:29-30, Gal 6:4). After crossing the Red Sea, Jehovah didn’t automatically bring the children of Israel to the good land, but He led them around the wilderness for 40 years, changing their diet from a worldly Egyptian one to a heavenly one.

Gather and Eat

In Exodus 16:4, Jehovah told Moses, “I will now rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day”. There are two important actions in this verse—Jehovah provided and the children of Israel gathered. These actions apply to our daily Christian life. Today, God has provided us with Christ as our living bread (John 6:51). Our part is to gather and eat. This simply means to come to Christ and take Him as our spiritual sustenance whether through reading the word, praising, or talking to Him.

When do we gather and how much should we gather? According to Exodus 16:21, the children of Israel gathered “morning by morning, each one according to his eating”. So, one practical way we can improve our spiritual diet, is to actively come to Christ in our morning and spend time with him. By doing so, we absorb Christ as a spiritual breakfast that supplies us throughout the day. How much should we gather? Well, that really depends on our individual capacity to eat. Like the children of Israel, we just need to gather according to our eating, no less, and no more. The important part of spiritual eating is not the quantity, but simply that we do it. Once we start coming to the Lord for spiritual food, we will automatically, “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). As we gather, absorb and assimilate more Christ daily, our capacity to eat Him will naturally increase and He will become our main constitution.

It Takes Time

One final note on the matter of a change in diet: the Passover, representing Israel’s salvation from the world was one night. Three days later they were baptized in the Red Sea, and Pharaoh and his army were destroyed in one fell swoop. Reconstitution? Forty years. Although our salvation is immediate, our baptism is one a time event, it takes a lot of time for God to fully change our inward constitution. Don’t be discouraged if progress is not apparent or speedy. A change in diet takes time.

From my personal experience, I’ve noticed that as I’ve spent more time with the Lord and gotten to know Him in His word, my taste for the world has decreased and my taste for Christ has increased. As I’ve “chewed” more on my bible, I’ve found that His words have become sweet to me and have become the gladness and joy of my heart (Psalm 119:103, Jeremiah 15:16). When I find myself reverting to a worldly diet or find myself altogether neglecting my spiritual diet, I simply ask the Lord to cause me to love Him more. I know that if I love Christ more, He has a way to constitute me with Himself. I know this because I eat what I love, I am what I eat, and over time, I express what I eat.

By: S. Chen

Sarah Chen
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