What on your diet?

I'm not a health food fanatic by any stretch of the imagination, but I eat a balanced diet that includes less and less 'junk' these days. Maybe it's wisdom, maybe it's just my inability to eat junk food and still feel well, that makes for more discipline in my diet. Whatever it is, high fat, high sugar foods don't find their way into my mouth as much. People have been preaching to me a long time about the quality of the food I choose to nourish my body. Now I am understanding that nutrition is more than putting stuff into your mouth.
What nourishes you spiritually? The Psalmist sings "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalm 119:103, NIV) The prophet said that "When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O Lord God Almighty." (Jeremiah 15:16, NIV) It's an interesting analogy, isn't it? God's Word as food and drink. Our minds and hearts want to be fed. We have a hunger for instruction, for knowledge of the way to live that lets us be satisfied, peaceful, and whole. We can temporarily ease that hunger with material that does not satisfy our soul.

But, when we consume the Word of God, He uses it to create a strong heart in us, to give us insight and discernment. As a shepherd of God's flock, I am concerned by the failure of many to 'eat' the Word in quantities that will provide real strength. Merely reading a few inspirational thoughts each day cannot replace sitting down to thoughtful meditation on the Scripture. A 'verse for the day' will produce about the same kind of strength that you would have if you tried to survive on a single vitamin tablet! Then, too, there are many teachers preparing meals for people but the 'food' they offer is tainted or diluted with human philosophy to great degrees. The "Word" they offer is junk food, tasty morsels that cannot provide nutrition.

Get two good Bibles! One solid translation (New International, English Standard, or even New Living) matched with a contemporary paraphrase like The Message are all you need to get started. Make a plan to read a portion of the Scripture every day, with understanding, allowing the Spirit to apply the principles of God's Story to your life. No one masters the Scripture or is mastered by the Truth in a month or even a year! It's a life-long commitment, with rich rewards.

Here's a word from the Word. I pray it challenges you to check your 'soul food' for nutritional content.
"Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long. Your commands make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I have not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws. I have suffered much; preserve my life, O Lord, according to your word. Accept, O Lord, the willing praise of my mouth, and teach me your laws."
(Psalm 119:97-108, NIV)