If I asked you why you should clean up your diet, I’m guessing you’d shoot off the same answers we all do: the scale will go down. I’ll feel better. I’ll have more energy. Less inflammation. Less chance of chronic disease. In short, I’ll live long and prosper. 😉
While those are all fantastic reasons to make some lifestyle changes, what I rarely hear anyone talk about is the spiritual impact of our food choices.
I know you may wonder what in the world I’m talking about, since our diet seems to have nothing to do with our personal faith or testimony. But I’d like to suggest that our food choices DO have a radical impact on the depth of our spiritual life, and we often don’t even realize it. In fact, I believe this is one of the biggest reasons we should think twice about what we’re choosing to put in our mouth.
For starters, consider this simple warning given by Peter in the New Testament:
“Dearly beloved . . . abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11).
Now, before we assume that Peter is just warning us about immorality, let’s look at the definition of the word lust. It simply means a strong desire or craving. I know we never say we’re “lusting” after a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts or a can of Dr. Pepper, but wouldn’t you agree that can be a pretty intense and even overpowering craving? In reality, our physical appetite—and the cravings that go along with it—can be one of the most powerful kinds of lust that we battle in this life.
But notice that Peter tells us these kinds of cravings “war against the soul.” How in the world can our favorite treats ignite a deep internal battle? Aren’t they just a harmless escape that gives us a happy little taste on our tongue?
If you think about it, anyone who’s started a new diet knows the raging war we can have with our physical cravings. Our appetite almost seems to have a mind of its own. We may start a Monday morning with all kinds of grand plans to make healthier choices, but hours later we scarf down an entire bag of Doritos . . . and we know the cravings have won. It’s like they literally have the power to take us captive—to hijack our will and force us to succumb to their seductive call. It’s that same age-old war with the lusts of the flesh, and it happens just as much with pizza or cookie dough as it does with any other kind of physical temptation.
While many of us have fallen victim to this dynamic again and again, we rarely stop and answer this difficult but important question: when our appetite is out of control, aren’t we just as much a captive of our lust as a person caught in the throes of pornography? While we may cringe at the comparison, isn’t the dynamic exactly the same? We try and try to stop ourselves, but our lust for our favorite treats wins out again and again. The cravings are just too hard to resist. We can try to rationalize that it’s only a pan of brownies, but the truth is that—deep down—our lust has taken control of our will. Our fleshly desires aren’t just warring against the soul—they’re winning that war again and again and again.
Paul describes this difficult personal battle in Galatians 5: “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Can you see the spiritual captivity he’s describing? Our cravings war against the Spirit, seeking to gain control of our will. And when they do, Paul says, we’re unable to do what our heart truly wants: to respect our body and take care of our health. To rule over our flesh. To gain control of a very out-of-control situation.
So what if, instead of starting a new diet or mustering up more willpower or setting a bunch of ambitious new health goals, we fought this battle on a spiritual level?
Believe it or not, it’s the only way to break free and conquer our physical cravings once and for all.
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free,” Paul tells us in Galatians, “and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. . . . Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:1, 16).
A few verses later, he reminds us that “temperance” (or self-control in the Greek) comes–not from mustering up more willpower–but only as a gift of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23). These verses make it clear that the Lord, through the powerful influence of His Spirit, is the only One who can help us rise up and win the war with our flesh. It’s a paradigm shift that couldn’t be more important . . . and will finally give us the ability to conquer our battle with food once and for all.
