You are what you eat

There is a television program about food called “You Are What You Eat”. Nutritionists tell us to care about our health and consume foods with nutritional value, because our bodies will absorb whatever we eat. In the end, that will affect the development of our bodies and even our attitudes, determining what sort of a person we become. We see this simple logic during a woman’s pregnancy. Whatever the mother eats, the embryo will absorb, finally affecting the future health of the baby.

Born-again believers should also be greatly concerned for the development of our spiritual health. We must daily receive the Word of God (called spiritual food in the Bible) before the life of the Son of God can grow within us. Our ancestor did not value the Word of God, and failed through his choice of food. But our Lord Jesus Christ still valued the Word of God in a situation of extreme hunger, and used God’s words in response to the temptation of Satan by saying, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4). He also said to those disciples who doubted God’s words, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” (John 6:63) The children of God rely on spiritual food for their growth. Those who consistently receive spiritual food will be strong and bountiful in their spiritual lives, and able to distinguish the deception and temptation of Satan.

There is a saying in North America about food and health: too much and too little. This indicates that in food we have too many choices of types and brands, but too little that truly have nutritional value and are good for our health. Take Cola for example: a 12-oz bottle contains 12 teaspoons of sugar and caffeine, on top of a sizable quantity of phosphoric acid. (Phosphoric acid is corrosive to metal. It is said that we can use Coke to polish and remove rust on our cars.) Coke is a purely caloric drink. It only supplies calories, not any other nutrients. According to research, persistent consumption of carbonic acid drinks such as Coke will create fat in our bodies from the excess calories, increasing the incidence of clogged arteries and tooth decay. Although nutritionists regard Coke as junk food and bad for our health, it is still top among pops and much favoured.

In this age of the explosion in information and communications (infocomm), we are bombarded by news daily from every corner - details regarding society, politics, technology, sports, music, entertainment, food and drink, health etc. This is a sign of the end of age (Daniel 12:4). Urban Christians as well face a situation of “too much and too little”. There is too much infocomm trying to grab our attention, but they do not have any spiritual nutrition value, and are of no help in the growth of our spiritual lives. They may only be counted as mental energy bars, incomparable to the Words of God. Besides, mixed in are junk infocomm of a harmful nature, such as celebrity gossip and sexually provocative images. Unfortunately, junk content wrapped up as information but without spiritual nutrition value abound on the internet, poisoning the minds of many. Therefore, Christians must discern with wisdom and ably utilize our limited time to ingest visual material with the greatest benefit to our spiritual lives. This writer is not objecting to believers using progressive infocomm to expand their horizons and increase their knowledge of life and the world. Yet, spiritual people should be cautious and discretionary, unlike those belonging to the world who give rein to visual debauchery and soak up infocomm that arouse sexual passions. Always love the Word of God and seek deeper knowledge of the Bible, for “you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:15-17)

By: Daniel To