I was trying to convey to my kids at church the importance of feeding our soul and spirit. Oftentimes we neglect the feeding of our soul and spirit, or, worse yet, feed them with very “unhealthy foods.” I asked the kids, “How do we feed our bodies?” They answered, “By eating food with our mouths.” So, I replied, “But how do you think we feed our souls and spirits?” They were puzzled. I said, “We feed our souls and spirits with our ears, through the things we hear… I guess you could say that our ears are the ‘mouths of our spirits’”. When I said that, one little boy grabbed his ear and pressed the top of his ear to the bottom of his ear in a “chomping” motion, like a mouth eating food. “Yes,” I said, “That’s right. When we’re listening to words spoken, sung, or written it’s just like our ears are chomping on food and the words are going into our soul and spirit for nourishment.” I then had all the kids do the chomping motion with their ears that the one little boy had done. It was the perfect illustration for their young minds to understand (and it might help some “older” minds as well).
You know, we hear both good and bad, encouraging and discouraging words all day long. Just as healthy food makes our bodies stronger and unhealthy foods make us weak and sickly, the same holds true for the “food” that our souls and spirits feed on… the words we listen to, both intentionally and subconsciously. Our ears are the feeding stations of our spirit. We need to monitor what we listen to, and make sure that we’re “feeding” our soul and spirit with healthy food… not junk food, or worse yet, poison! I like what I heard one person say, “My ears are not your garbage cans.” Refuse to listen to “junk” that people try to push on you and poison you with. Remember that your ears are passageways into your soul and spirit, and should be protected.
My Prayer for Today:
“Lord, help me pay closer attention to the things I listen to as I realize that my spirit is feeding on the words I hear.”
Luke 8:18
“So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them.”
Romans 10:17
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
