Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of things in our lives that we eat or consume that have no value?
Think about it.
A Whopper or a Big Mac might taste good but there is no nutritional value to it. Both are loaded with calories but there is nothing in them that will sustain you. Besides, there are a lot of food choices that are better for you and taste better than anything that you can pick up from a fast food place.
Jesus talked about this in Matthew 4.
Right before Jesus was about to begin his ministry, he was taken into the wilderness where he fasted 40 days and 40 nights. Knowing that Jesus was going to be hungry, the devil shows up and tempts Jesus.
The devil says, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
Then immediately, Jesus answers, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
What is Jesus saying?
If you go to the grocery store and you look at the bread on the shelves, you will notice that they range in price from very cheap to fairly expensive.
A cheap loaf of bread has most to all of the nutrients removed and it is made with enriched flour. What you are left with is a calorie dense, nutritionally empty food source. Some breads are better but they are still calorie rich. What you have on your plate might taste good after you turn it into a sandwich or add peanut butter to it but it does nothing for you.
Your body gains no benefit from bread? To fill fuller, you have to eat more. Bread does not support your muscles, it does not lower your blood pressure, it does not lower your cholesterol or help increase your metabolism. In fact, it can add to belly fat. Not good eats.
Likewise, we tend to eat a lot of sugary foods, which may provide some temporary satisfaction, but in the long run, it may harm our body, teeth, skin, and everything else. Specifically, tooth decay caused by sugar consumption in the form of sweets, cookies, soft drinks, and so on may necessitate the use of dental care specialists from clinics similar to EastSide Family Dental Care.
Apart from that, I once also saw an interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger. The interviewer asked him why he did not have cheat days or cheat meals. Arnold said he didn’t believe in that. He told the interviewer that he did not understand the purpose of having something or cheating for a momentary pleasure that might set you backwards, and then you have to go back to the gym and work harder to undo what you just did. He said it would be better if he just stuck with his eating habits and not worry about cheating. He said that the results that you get are determined by what you are hungry for. You have a vision of yourself and then you eat to create that vision.
I understand that he was talking about working out and eating healthy. However, the application for our spiritual journey is huge!
What in your life is bread?
- pride
- pornography
- soap operas
- laziness
- gossip
- selfishness
- TV and movies
- living in the past
- trying to escape the present
What seems like a momentary pleasure is more than just a “cheat meal.” It is potentially damaging to the work that the Holy Spirit is doing in you. It is a setback. Stop sabotaging yourself. The best thing to do is not cheat.
You need to be hungry and thirsty for righteousness. Let the Word of God and your Redeemer King be what sustains you.
Feed upon the everlasting Word of God.
Drink from the well of living water that is only found in Jesus.
I promise you this. The results that you achieve will far outweigh anything that you try to gain by eating “bread.”
- Refined and Refreshed: A Year Later - June 13, 2021
- Discipleship: From Spoon-Feeding to Mentoring - August 5, 2020
- Pastors and Live Video Options - November 4, 2019
