Page 52 - Overcoming Addiction

Chapter 8 - The Bread of Heaven

here is a modern adage that states “You are what you eat.” There is much truth
Tto this at all levels of our being. What we eat physically impacts our bodies in
profound ways. There are many authors who have provided tremendous evidence
that the vast majority of diseases in western culture are due to diet. What we eat
either promotes health, or promotes disease.
This same principle of what we eat shaping who we are is true in the realm of
man’s soul. Yahshua declared the following:

Matthew 12:34-35
"You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the
mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of
his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil
treasure what is evil.”

The heart often serves as a symbolic reference to the inner man. As the men
Yahshua was speaking to were not yet born of the Spirit, the heart here is a
reference to their soul. Yahshua declared that whatever filled their heart would be
revealed in their words and actions. Whatever these men had spent their time
feeding upon during the years of their life had made a tremendous impact upon
their soul. It had literally shaped their soul. If they fed on truth and righteousness,
their soul would be shaped by this and the result would be seen in their words and
actions. If they fed upon lies and impurity, then their soul would likewise be
shaped by these things.
What we eat has a tremendous influence upon our being. This is why there is
so much written about clean foods and unclean foods in the Bible. We should not
think that Yahweh’s primary reason for speaking about foods was the health of
man’s physical body. Christ stated that the more important matter is what we feed
our souls.

Matthew 15:11
"It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what
proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man."

In the previous passage of Scripture we read that what comes out of the
mouth is what is in the soul of man. Whatever our soul has been feeding upon will
be revealed in our words. For example, a man who spends his life in the pursuit of
worldly possessions will spend much time feeding upon that which his soul craves.
He may subscribe to magazines such as Fortune and Forbes, or papers such as The
Wall Street Journal. He will go directly to the stock reports, when he looks at the
news online, and he will seek out other people with whom he can converse about
finances and investments and the economy. When this man is engaged in
conversation it will be apparent what his soul has been feeding upon.
Not only is the man’s conversation affected, but so are his values and his
actions. If a man has focused all his life upon making money, he will begin to view
situations through this lens. When meeting a person he may consider whether