What are you eating?

My wife often asks me… what do you want to eat for supper?  My standard answer— “food.”  Not helpful, I know.  I like most things and eat whatever is given me.




What about my spiritual appetite?  What about yours?


Allow me to give you a few helpful guidelines:



# 1.  Eat the Bible —lots!

Your number one choice is reading the Bible yourself.  Read it lots!  I recommend reading 15 minutes to 30 minutes per day.  You cannot read too much of the Bible.  50% of your spiritual diet should come from your personal reading of scripture. 


# 2.  Eat whatever your church/ congregation is serving.

This is the second choice for spiritual food.  Your church leadership is preaching, teaching, writing stuff FOR you.  And, stuff that fits into the vision and mission the Lord has given your church.  A couple of things here.  First, eat everything.  Listen to every sermon, every video.  Read every hand out, every blog.  You do understand that the leadership is preparing material especially for you, don’t you?  When we have our family over for a special meal, we work hard.  If our family called us and said, they changed their minds and are going over to someone else’s house to eat—well, we’d be either upset or at least a little confused!  30% plus of your spiritual diet should come from the congregation you are committed to.


# 3.  Other sources:

Online teachings

Books

Audio books

Pod-casts


These need to be additional to the Bible and your own church.  Aim at about 20% of your diet here.


What I believe happens is that this order is reversed.  People eat what ever they hear/ see on the internet as their main spiritual diet.  They read books, listen to pod-casts and have trouble participating and flowing in the groove of their congregation.


Psalms 92:12-15 (NKJV) 12 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,

He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13 Those who are planted in the house of the Lord

Shall flourish in the courts of our God.

14 They shall still bear fruit in old age;

They shall be fresh and flourishing,

15 To declare that the Lord is upright;

He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.


A new covenant application of this is helpful.  You flourish best in your family and in a family setting.  What is your family setting?  Your congregation? The place you invest yourself—in prayer, in giving, in serving.  Eat there!  Eat everything they offer!


50% Bible reading

30% Your congregation

20% Other


Happy eating!





Comments

  1. Pastor Linda Williams25 March 2021 at 17:06

    Loved reading this!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH PASTOR PETER!!! FOR REAL TEACHING!!! Relatable and Down to Earth!!! That was Awesome!!! I am sharing it to my fb page! I miss all of you at LifeHouse!!! God bless you and Ruth so much!!! Thanks for your Food For Thought!! "Good Thinking!"

    ReplyDelete

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