You’re probably familiar with that phrase: “you are what you eat.” You probably also know that it doesn’t mean that if you eat broccoli you turn into broccoli. What the phrase does mean is that there is a very close connection between what we eat and drink and our overall health and well-being. Good food is good for us, and bad food is bad for us, but in a broader sense than just its impact on our digestive tract. By saying “you are” it’s incorporating a bigger sense of your body, and also your mind and general well being.
I was reminded of the phrase when I read Jeremiah 15:16, which says:
“Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
O LORD, God of hosts.”
If “you are what you eat” then what happens if we eat the word of God, and what does it mean to eat the word of God? We definitely shouldn’t be munching on our Bibles, but similar to eating, we must let what we learn from the Bible (God’s word) become an internal part of us, the very source of our life and energy. Also similar to eating, it is something we must do repeatedly and regularly, or else we starve. We should let it continually empower and motivate us to do God’s will, to be His people and to glorify Him. We can’t “eat” God’s word by keeping it outside of our lives and admiring it at a distance. We must do what it says. James puts it well in his epistle:
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:22 – 25)
As Jeremiah said, “your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart,” James said we “will be blessed in [our] doing.” But this only happens when we “eat” what we read in the Bible. We allow it to become an integral part of us, essential to our identity. We don’t get “joy” and “delight” from God’s word if we keep it outside and admire it from a distance or treat it like we would a textbook. We don’t get “joy” and “delight” if we think it’s only written for other people to do what it says, but not specifically written to us.
Jeremiah says, “I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.” Christians are called by the name of Jesus, the Christ. We all fall short of who God wants us to be, as do all who are called by His name, but that doesn’t mean we can stop eating. I think most people can tell the difference between someone who “eats” God’s word and someone who keeps it at a distance or doesn’t bother to learn it and spend time with it regularly. Someone with true joy is a rare sight! Someone who delights in God’s word rather than treats it as an academic study, or as irrelevant, or as an exercise in fault-finding, is also a rare sight!
Therefore, don’t ignore God’s word, “eat” it. Regularly. Because you are what you eat.
