Spiritual Foodies

On two occasions, the Scriptures say that God gave prophets a scroll or book of His words to eat (Ezekiel 2:8-3:3 and Revelation 10:8-11). It was God’s way of saying that His prophets, and His people, needed to receive and internalize His word. And ultimately, what is eaten becomes a part of the one who eats it. God’s word needs to be more than just a book we own or carry around, it must become who and what we are!

We’re familiar with Mathew 5:6: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” – but I wonder if our interest in God and His will for us is a real hunger and thirst. Do we “desire the pure milk of the world” as newborn babes? (1 Peter 2:1-3).

This not only means personal study, but deep interest in all opportunities to study and learn more about God and His will. It will make us “spiritual foodies.” Today, someone may be called a foodie because they enjoy discovering and tasting foods. So, it’s a strong interest in food – not just eating, but experiencing, learning about, and appreciating it. So, what if that described our interest in spiritual food – God’s word?

What if we saw every Bible study as an opportunity to, “…taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psa 34:8)? What if searching the Scriptures daily (Act 17:11) was like trying a new restaurant every day? What if a sermon was like “meat” to us (Heb 5:12-14), Jesus was bread of life (Jn 6:48), and a gospel meeting was a feast (Isa 25:6-9)? Spiritual foodies don’t just want to eat, they want to find food that is special and they want the experience of exploring and really knowing it. And they don’t sit around waiting for someone else to prepare it or give it to them. And they don’t settle for fast food. They know it will take some time, effort, and even learning to get the “good stuff.”

We need to stop acting like we don’t want to know God’s will for our lives. We need to start acting like we are spiritually hungry. We need to act so hungry that we won’t wait for someone to feed us, but are eagerly going to God’s word and to where God’s word is being taught, studied, and proclaimed! We know how to do that with physical food. Now we know how to do it with spiritual food!    dd