A Spiritual Diet Prov. 3:2 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
In the prior broadcast we taught on the balanced diet found in scripture. That is a very practical lesson dealing with the balance of foods that you should eat. Today’s broadcast is about a spiritual diet. A spiritual diet involves nourishing yourself with spiritual things that have a beneficial physical effect.
Your spiritual diet simply involves regular feeding on the words of God. Nourishment from the words of God comes from reading and studying and listening to the words of God as they are preached and taught. Just as you feed yourself daily with a balanced diet of food, so you should feed yourself daily with a spiritual diet of the word of God.
The benefits of a regular spiritual diet of the words of God are the following:
Length of days – Prov 3:2 – time spent reading the Bible each day and time spent at church attending to Sunday school, preaching and Bible study is more than made up by the lengthening of your days – in other words, when you take care of God’s business, he takes care of yours – you get more done in a day with less time than you do when you neglect your spiritual diet.
Long life – Prov 3:2 – I believe that a spiritual diet increases the health of your body, your mind and your spirit and adds to the years of your life – of course this is a general statement since there are some who have maintained a good spiritual diet and have passed away at a young age and there are some old reprobates who have lived into their 90’s.
Peace – Prov 3:2 – certainly the more Bible you digest in your spiritual diet, the more peace you find in your life – conversely, the more time you spend in front of the television, on the radio, in the newspaper and on the internet the less peace you have – particularly if you neglect the Bible.
Health – Prov 3:8 –Solomon says “health to thy navel” – interestingly in this region is the vagus nerve which runs from the brain stem through the heart, esophagus and lungs and down to the abdomen – it keeps the heart rate constant and controls food digestion – the vagus nerve is involved in a common cause of fainting called vasovagal syncope, fainting due to a drop in blood pressure and heart rate as an overreaction to stimuli like the sight of a needle or the sight of blood – a chiropractor friend treated patients with migraine headaches by massaging the vagus nerve with excellent results – he started the massage at the navel and worked in concentric circles outward massaging the tender areas – I’m inclined to believe that stress affects this nerve in the area of the “navel” with a commensurate negative effect on the heart, lungs and digestion.
Marrow – Prov 3:8 – your bones contain two types of marrow, red and yellow – red blood cells, platelets and white blood cells are produced in the red marrow – the yellow marrow is made up primarily of fat cells – red blood cells are responsible for carrying oxygen from the lungs to all parts of the body – white blood cells are important in the immune system and in fighting infections and viruses – your body produces about 200 billion red blood cells everyday – Solomon said that your spiritual diet resulting in fear of the Lord and your departure from evil positively affects your bone marrow – which then positively affects your health.
Happiness – Prov 3:13 – Solomon said that a merry heart doeth good like a medicine – happy people are generally healthier people – they’re not as stressed, they’re not depressed and they recover from surgery quicker than people who are not happy – there are, undoubtedly, some very positive health benefits from being happy – and your happiness is directly related to a sufficient spiritual consumption of the words of God.
Rest – Prov 3:24 – nothing like a good night’s sleep to keep you healthy – your body needs to rest fully to properly recover – many people have sleep problems – and, undoubtedly, some of these sleep problems stem from anxiety and stress – a good dose of Bible each day and a habit of doing what you’re reading settles you down and helps you sleep.
Conclusion: in all of these benefits we’re not saying that reading and following the Bible is the solution to all your ailments – we’re saying that if you’re trying everything else and you have neglected the Bible, you need to add a spiritual diet of the words of God – you cannot neglect the Bible without negative results – likewise, medicine is not always the remedy for all of the health problems people face – as a doctor friend of mine told me, patients would come to him complaining about an ailment that “just started” – he would often tell his patients, “This isn’t something that just started; you’ve been doing this to yourself for twenty years; the consequences are just now beginning to show” – in other words, if they had been maintaining a balanced diet and a spiritual diet they might have been able to avoid the problem they now face – I certainly recommend that you consult your physician anytime you have a medical concern, of course – however, I also recommend that you maintain a balanced diet and a spiritual diet to keep yourself in good health, as the Lord wills – you cannot abuse these diets without some negative consequences.