\ by Keith Paulus
One of the most popular New Year’s resolutions is often related to our diets. As people reexamine their lives and routines, many of us will use this beginning of a new year to make some more healthy food and lifestyle choices.
For Christians, it’s also a good time to remind ourselves that in addition to feeding our bodies well, we also need to feed our souls well. Indeed, it’s the Bible’s testimony that we don’t live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4).
In past generations, pastors were often referred to as physicians of the soul – because their role was to provide spiritual care and encouragement to those in their church, as well as the proper diagnosis and prescription for those who were in need of greater health. As a pastor for nearly 12 years now, I know of no more important spiritual practice for spiritual health and growth than a steady diet of God’s Word. When we feed on God’s Word – not merely to receive some good advice or moralistic teaching or interesting information, but when we see the gospel of Jesus Christ in all the Scriptures and read it for what it teaches us about him, and when we come to this study with humility and dependence on the Holy Spirit, God opens the eyes of our heart and increasingly transforms us into the image of Christ.
Do you want to grow this year? May I encourage you to develop a steady diet of feeding on God’s Word? Consider what the apostle Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3, All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Eat well. Feed your soul with the all-sufficient, Christ-glorifying Word of God.
Your brother and pastor,
Keith