Our Daily Diet

The proverbial saying “You are what you eat “is the notion that you need to eat good food to be fit and healthy. Your daily diet of food consumption will affect your body and impact the overall health of your body. If your diet is healthy, then the assumed conclusion is that your body will be healthy. Some people can maintain a lifestyle with this philosophy, while for many, we still tend to eat things at times that we know are not good for us. For folks like this, that bag of chips or box of doughnuts are hard to pass by. Nevertheless, maintaining a healthy diet is the goal of most individuals.

However, one’s diet is not only what you eat. It is what you watch, what you listen to, what you read, who you hang out with, and the like. Like the food we consume, these outside influences have a way of shaping our lives, informing our daily living, and affecting who we are. As a people of faith and followers of Jesus, we should be mindful of what we take in daily, because these outside influences can often run contrary to the way of Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote of these concerns in his letter to the Corinthians where he stated, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthian 6: 19-20) 

When we enter into a relationship with God, our bodies become temples of the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit now dwells in us and should be evident by the kind of lives we live. The more we open ourselves up to God’s Spirit in our lives, then the greater our lives will honor God. Similarly, if we continue to consume those things that are contrary to God’s will and make them a part of our daily diet, then our lives will not match the lives we confess to belong to God. 

Thus, it is vital that we daily evaluate our diet of what we bring into our lives. We should recommit ourselves to those things that honor God and rid those things that bring dishonor. This daily diet check will keep us attuned to God’s will for our lives and grow and develop our faith. By focusing on the things of God, then our lives will reflect these things to others. In Philippians 4:8, we read these words from Paul: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” We become what we take in, what we focus on, and what we live out in our daily living.  Hence, we should consider our daily diet for our relationship with God and with one another.  Are we consuming, processing, and growing in a way that honors God.  We are what we eat in more ways than one.