It has been shown that a 400-calorie serving of animal-based or processed foods typically leaves your stomach feeling less than half full versus a 400-calorie serving of fruits and vegetables, which leave you feeling completely full.
Processed foods, meat products and junk food in general not only leave you craving for more, but also don’t provide much “bang for the buck” when it comes to nutrition. Further, the body begins to break down from various diseases when subjected to such a diet for a prolonged period of time.
These days, more and more people are questioning the food they consume and turning to healthy alternatives—alternatives that, in fact, align with the way our Creator made our bodies to function. Healthy eating has become hip in some circles and politically correct in others. But for many, it is simply a matter of health. Taking that thought further, it’s a key part of life, the way it was meant to be lived and experienced.
The very same principles and logic that apply to developing healthy bodies apply to developing healthy souls. What we put into our souls will determine their spiritual vitality and health. Interestingly, diseases (think dis-ease) of the soul can manifest themselves as diseases of the body. We’ve all heard of psychosomatic illnesses. Disturbances in our psyche can overflow into or contaminate different parts our bodies. We know the harm mental stress alone can cause.
Jesus told the people of his time that it’s not what you put into your mouth that defiles a person. (He was addressing the legalistic hand-washing practices of the Pharisees.) But it’s what comes out of the mouth, meaning from one’s heart, that defiles. This includes “evil thoughts, murder, adultery, unchastity, theft, false witness, blasphemy.”
These things are not healthy for our souls and can snuff out the spark of life that God placed within us. If we want to be restored to wholeness and health—in the fullest sense—we can’t focus only on the body and ignore the needs of our spiritual life. We also need real food for the soul.
So, ask yourself, what are you consuming for the good of your soul? The more you fill it with the right stuff, the more you crowd out the bad.
Scripture is rife with spiritual analogies related to food and eating. Consider these:
- Jesus compares life in Heaven to a great banquet
- He said his food is to do the will of the Father
- We feed ourselves with the Word of God
- More sublimely, Jesus gives us his Body and Blood to unite us with his Divinity and lead us to eternal life
Why so much emphasis on food and eating?
Because we are human. And to be human means to have both a body and a soul. The body is a temple for the spirit, and together, the body and spirit provide a temple for God to dwell in. All are to be united as one thing.
Imagine that. A God living within us. This is not just some figure of speech or some pleasant-sounding religious platitude. It’s a spiritual reality.
Ignore your body and suffer physically and/or die early. Ignore your soul and suffer morally deep within your person and potentially live without the One who created you forever, the One who knows exactly what will make you truly happy.
God gave us all the right foods to live healthy lives. The things that are killing us are the things man came up with.
God gave us all the right spiritual direction to live meaningful, fulfilling and happy lives. But man thought he knew better and went his own way, losing access to the spiritual water (and food) that wells up into eternal Life.
Living healthy physical and spiritual lives are simple concepts, but hard to do. It takes resoluteness, discipline, and most of all love. Anything can be done when done for love. Love of one’s own true welfare (or that of others) and love of the One who gave us our life to live in the first place.