YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!

Every morning, afternoon and evening, I hear a very common phrase from my two year old daughter’s mouth -“I want milk.” She doesn’t say it just once, but she continues to say it until that desire is satisfied. Nutritionists tell us that we are what we eat. Now I don’t know how literally you want to take that, or interpret it, but literally it could mean that if you eat a fish sandwich, well, then you are a fish sandwich. And if you eat a steak, then walking down the street, you’re a steak. We know that this is not what is meant by this statement. But what we eat and inwardly digest does become a part of us. One of the best illustrations of this is drinking water. We drink water for many reasons. Our bodies are made up of water, and our blood is comprised of it. Therefore, we need to drink water so that the composition of our bodies remains as it should. Thus, the water becomes a part of our bodies, and we are what we eat.

Many people have seen this within the physical realm, but have failed to see it within the spiritual realm. They have failed to see- whether they’re saved or unsaved- that in our world, continually feeding upon violence, excitement, materialism and money, will eventually allow these things to personify them; they will become those things. They will become what they eat. The things you inwardly digest, you begin to look like.

So for what should we hunger and thirst? Jesus made this very clear in the Sermon on the Mount. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).” The verse does not stop with “blessed are those who hunger and thirst,” because we all hunger and thirst. In fact, right now I hunger and thirst for lunch! No, that’s not what Jesus is talking about. Instead, Jesus tells us to hunger and thirst for righteousness. What is this righteousness? “It is the desire for righteousness to prevail, goodness to prevail in my life and in my heart and in the world. It is a thirst, an increasing, amplified thirst after the sense and the need of God in my life. It is seeking, it is following hard after God’s will in your life, for God to be the centre of your life, the centre of your motives, your activities, your purposes, your family, and your work-everything-for God to have everything and be in everything (Copyright 1999 by Pastor David Legge, Preachtheword.com).”

In the final part of verse 6, Christ promises that if we hunger and thirst after righteousness, we will be filled. What does that mean? Well, to be satisfied is to be filled. I believe this filling Jesus talks about is an insatiable filling. This filling with righteousness from the Lord Jesus Christ is something that once you have experienced it, the more you hunger after it. Unless we have this filling from Christ, we are never truly satisfied. The righteousness of Christ is so wonderful that we continue to want more and more of it. The more we get of Christ, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, the more we want! It’s like Pringles- ‘once you pop, you can’t stop’!

Are you Hungry?
Aaron Hodges