Extra Boost

On a family visit to the Netherlands, I read an interesting article in a science magazine, which discussed various aspects of the unseen microbes living in our gut. I learnt many things I had no idea about. Did you know for example that there are more microbes in your gut than there are cells in your entire body? That really amazed me. The bacteria living inside of us apparently have a massive effect on our lives without us realising it.

What really got me was what happens when we start eating in a healthier way. When we start eating better, the ‘good bacteria’ flourish. They in turn produce chemicals that send signals to our brain that communicate something like “more please”! The microbes like the healthy food. It causes them to thrive and start asking for more. This helps increase our appetite for healthy food.

Amazingly, once we have decided to make a start then the bacteria will help us along. It's like there is an in-built (designed) apparatus that gives us an extra boost to encourage us to make increasingly healthier choices. So, it’s no longer just our own will-power that helps us eat better, there’s billions of little organisms inside of us that give a helping hand as well. Thinking about this, I’m feeling pretty grateful!

Jesus reminded us that ‘Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’. Good food for the body is important, but nurturing our spirits is even more crucial for our well-being. Do you ever struggle with having a healthy spiritual diet? Do you ever get in a slump and rather slouch your way through life on a junk food diet of TV and social media, instead of making the effort to read God’s word?

When we read God’s Word, and take it in, it feeds our spirits. I find that beginning or restarting a healthy spiritual diet is always hard. But once we taste how good it is to read and meditate on God’s word each day, we start wanting more. I don’t fully understand the dynamics behind this, but I suspect that, just as God built in an unseen booster system for healthy physical food, He helps us along the way once we start making healthy spiritual choices as well.

God likes it when we read His word. He wants to encourage us. His Holy Spirit is both with us as well as inside of us. So, my advice, if you want an increased appetite for the Word of God, is two-fold. First of all: start where you are at. Don’t wait until you ‘feel like it’ but start now with daily reading and meditating on God’s Word.

Secondly, I suggest you ask God for help. Let His Holy Spirit encourage you and stir you up. That way there will be an upward trend which builds on itself. Once we have gained momentum, it will be easier to keep going and to maintain a healthy spiritual diet of being nurtured by the Word of God.