Open Wide

"Open your mouth wide and I will fill it." God (Psalm 81:10b)

Because of, well, how God made me, my body goes completely nuts every time I eat something I'm allergic to. So when that happens, my life becomes utter chaos and all hope for a normal day is completely shot. But when I eat the right food, I grow in health and am able to live as I ought to. Very literally, I am affected by what I put in my mouth.

It is no different for those who claim to be Christ-followers. Rightfully so, we like our bellies full, don't we? But all too often, we hear our tummies rumbling and look to faulty sources of nourishment, fulfillment, and fullness. These could be all sorts of things: culture, validation, pornography, physical health, wealth, beauty, children, drugs, academic success, alcohol, service, technology, masturbation, food, romance, materialism, sexual appeal, acceptance, pride, etc. Among that list, as you may have noticed, are things that could be coined either "good" or "bad." In that, the list may have surprised you to some extent. It is easy to say that negative, sinful things are damaging and hurtful when consumed; however, even positive, godly things can never nourish your soul as Jesus Christ can. Our spiritual bellies weren't created to be satisfied by anything but God Himself, the Bread of Life and the Living Water that is Jesus Christ. So why are we looking to be nourished by anything else?

Interestingly enough, if I eat even the TINIEST bit of what I'm allergic to, I will still get extremely sick. Spiritually, it is no different. In the same way, we will be spiritually malnourished and sick if we feed on anything but God. We cannot look to anything of the world to nourish us in even the slightest way. It WILL hurt us and lead us down a path we never originally planned to trod down.

It is no wonder that we continue to feel hunger pains! How can we expect lush, rolling, fertile green pastures when we spend little if any time in the presence of the One who can feed us and instead spend our time eating junk? Why else should we expect anything but withered, tasteless, and sour fruit when we fail to go to the Source of everything good? We may be opening our mouths wide but are turned away from the One who can truly fulfill us. In the same way one would never expect a car to run without fuel, we must never expect ourselves as vehicles of the Holy Spirit to go anywhere or live as we ought to live. As vessels, we have one purpose and that is to be filled by the One who holds us; we were not made to be filled with the world in any sense whatsoever. We are given such a beautiful and high calling to walk as Jesus walked but there is no way possible we can do that unless we first go to God for nourishment.

Somewhere beneath the layers of rocky soil, stubborn roots, and mole holes lay a hidden Eden that only the Gardener can grow in our souls. For all too long, we have been satisfied with barren souls free of the fruit of the Holy Spirit and the fullness of God in us. We've walked the hard road with joyless faces, asking the world to join us by our words but not convincing them with our lives. In all the passion, fervor, and zeal a truthful word or two could bring, nothing would win more for Christ except that of the life that grows the fruit of looking to God as He truly is. I am afraid that the only thing that the majority of our lives beg is to remain in the bondage of everything we want to be free of.

We can go as far to say that what we put in our mouths as Christians gives us life or it gives us death. Each and every bite we take grows Eden in us or it grows destruction. Send all that bad junk you're eating down the garbage disposal in the name of Jesus and set your priorities straight. After all, you are what you eat. What's on your plate?