I want to talk to you today about eating. Eating is the process or action where we take something and put it in our mouths and then swallow it. I think everyone likes to eat. People have all sorts of different tastes. Some people like to eat hamburgers, some people like spaghetti, and some people like fruits and vegetables. But whatever it is we need food to survive.
Jesus talked about eating as well. He said “It’s not what goes into your mouth that makes you dirty; you are made dirty by the words that come out of your mouth” (Matthew 15:11). Jesus is saying that it doesn’t matter you we eat or drink, what matters is what we say, because what we say comes out of our hearts.
Maybe you have an addiction hiding in your heart. Only it doesn’t always hide there it comes out with its ugly head and you feel like you have to go out and use. You give into the physical desire to use drugs. You have become physically and chemically dependant on the chemical in the drug that you are using. Did you know that chemicals in drugs are made to imitate or copy certain chemicals in your brain? If you feel happy your body produces a good chemical. If you are at peace your body produces another chemical. Taking drugs gives you that feeling of joy or peace, but very often the chemicals in drugs are destructive. Once you are addicted you crave the drug with a powerful physical desire.
Jesus said to eat His words and drink His blood. Jesus wants us to feed off of the Bible which is the Word of God. Jesus wants us to soak in His blood which is the forgiveness of our sins. His blood doesn’t only represent forgiveness of our sins, Jesus’ blood takes away our sin. His blood washed our sins away. He makes us clean by washing us in His blood. That is why Jesus said “anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life” (John 6:54, NLT).
There’s more. Much more. Enough to make you change the way you act, and feel. Jesus also said, “I have a kind of food you know nothing about” (John 4:32, NLT). Jesus’ friends came to Him and told Him to have something to eat. They knew He must be hungry because He had not eaten for awhile. Jesus told them “I have a kind of food you know nothing about.”
Jesus also said to them, “My food is to do my Father’s will” (John 4:34). Jesus said He wanted to eat obedience to God instead of meat and bread. Jesus wasn’t interested in physical food, He was interested in spiritual food. The spiritual food that Jesus was interested in was doing what God His Father was telling Him to do.
If you are struggling with an addiction you can be set free by understanding what Jesus said. Jesus said that it is better to do God’s will than it is to take drugs. Jesus is saying that you can be set free from your chemical dependence by accepting and doing what God has planned for you to do.
Don’t say that you don’t know what God wants you to do because it is very obvious what He wants you to do. He wants you to read your Bible, pray, and meet with other Christians instead of going out and using drugs. God wants to live a godly and holy life instead of taking drugs and participating in all sorts of ungodly acts that go along with drug use. God wants you to worship Him in your heart and put Him first in your life. He wants you to seek His Kingdom and find out what else He has for you to do instead of put yourself on a self-destructive course that will end your life early unless you give up your addiction.
You can be set free. It starts in your mind and your heart. You must first think and believe that you would rather serve God by living a clean and holy life than taking drugs. That also means that God would rather have you serving Him than getting your heart stuck on other earthly things like building houses, buying cars, or filling up your bank accounts with cash and your portfolios with stocks, bonds, and gold.
Where your heart is that is where your treasure is. In other words, what you desire with your heart is what you think is the most valuable thing in heaven or on earth. If you think about pleasing God your treasure is in heaven. If you think about getting material things like money and power all the time your treasure is here on earth. You are an earthly person and not a heavenly person.
To be free from you addictions and your bad lifestyle you would be wise to put God first in your heart. Adore him and worship Him in your hearts. Seek to live a holy and godly life – that is God’s will for your life. Then find out from God what job He has for you to do on this earth. Does He want you to record messages on youtube? Does He want you to go out and become a missionary? Does He want you to serve Him in a church? What does He want you to do? What is your purpose in life and what is your mission?
Without a purpose or a mission we all fall off track. Without a desire to serve God and do something for Him we will likely end up doing something that we are not happy about.
I have known 5 people who have struggled with addictions and died. I have been personally involved with them only to watch them die. None of those 5 people wanted to stop taking drugs and drinking bad enough to be set free. It was sad to watch them go. 2 of them were Somalis – Hassan and Abdi Fatah. And I know there are many more Somalis who have dead by addictions than we hear about. I know of another Somali who is about to die if he doesn’t change his ways.
Maybe you are like him. Maybe you have had so many close calls with death that you are amazed you are still alive. Maybe you have been in jail. Maybe you woke up in a different house, or city, and can’t remember how you got there. Maybe you have slept in the dirtiest places on earth because you have been eating with the pigs, you have been slurping up the most disgusting things of this world, like a rat eating through the garbage.
God has a plan for your life. You were not meant to be an addict or something who is just living for the flesh or the things of this world. God has a plan for all of us. He loves all of us. He wants us to eat and do the things that He has planned for us. Live for God and you will never be disappointed with the choice that you have made.