We have probably all at one point heard the old saying that the title of this post borrows from: “you are what you eat.” … And to some extend that is certainly true on a purely physical level.
It is however also even more true on a spiritual level, and it is not something that any man can take credit for inventing as this truth was first revealed by our Lord Jesus during His ministry over 2000 years ago, and many of us, myself included have yet to fully realize this wonderfully simple to understand yet very difficult to master lesson.
Jesus used a parable to convey the message of what we feed into our souls affects our spirit and changes us on a level that has an impact on our overall character. It is ironically something that we are just beginning to debate in today’s’ society, but Jesus being still the God who made us, already knew it to be true and gave us the answer although many still do not understand.
This is what Jesus said in Matthew 6:22-23:
“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”
The Greek word for “single” used there is haploûs, which means “together” or “narrow”; in other words, not looking wildly about.
Jesus warns us of eyes that are uncontrolled, always looking for things which will hook our attention and influence us (plenty in the world today!)
There have been people I have spoken with which have told me they have certain issues which they want to resolve yet can’t and they have asked me why, and the first question I always ask, is “what are you watching and listening to?” and the answer more often than not, is found there.
For example… one person struggles with pornography and lust, and every show they watch is filled with sexual innuendo and crude jokes about the same.
Another person struggles with anxiety and worry, and all they watch is News reports and soap operas.
A third person deals with anger and depression, and all they listen to is music with lyrics that speak of hate and being worthless, with no hope. In other words, music that ministers death.
Jesus had a very simple solution for such things if we only had that fortitude to follow through with it. It is found in Matthew 5:29-30:
“And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”
Now Jesus is not actually suggesting that we cut off our body parts! This is just an analogy, saying that we should cut out the junk from our lives!
If we find that what we are watching and listening to is not profitable for Christ, we should most certainly get rid of it!
Personally I have had to go through my collection of DVD’s and Music CD’s and throw away everything I found that did not minister life. It was harder than I thought to actually do, but that just made it all the more convincing to me that I needed to do it! And I was also surprised to find that many supposedly Christian albums had depressing lyrics in their songs as well.
Now before I end I want to say that this is not meant as a judgmental or condemning message… again I did not even come up with any of this nor did any other person. These words and teachings are from Jesus our Vine, found in His Word, and as such we must obey if we are to stay connected and be followers of Him. So let us pray and evaluate what we are feeding into our spirits, and clean out the garbage that would keep us from staying connected to out Vine. Amen!
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