Dec. 31 Application | ‘It’s Time for Some Soul Food’

By David Faust 

As the old year ends and a new year begins, it’s customary to sing “Auld Lang Syne,” watch lots of football, and make resolutions we will break by mid-January. Many of us resolve to lose weight—but don’t. I saw a sign in a Michigan restaurant that said, “Some days you eat salads and go to the gym. Some days you eat a whole cherry pie. It’s called balance.” 

If you want to know how not to lose weight, an article on the website MuscleandFitness.com describes “The 10 Craziest Diets You’ve Never Heard of.” The list includes: 

• The Dessert with Breakfast Diet. (Why not enjoy a brownie with your bacon and eggs or ice cream with your oatmeal?) 
• The Baby Food Diet. (Nothing sounds yummier than replacing one of your daily meals with a jar of pulverized peas and carrots.) 
• The Vision Diet. (Reduce your caloric intake by wearing blue-tinted glasses that make food look less appetizing.) 

Fad diets promise quick fixes, but there is no substitute for eating reasonable amounts of healthy foods, staying hydrated, exercising, and getting enough rest. What lifestyle habits will nourish your spiritual health in the coming year? Here are some tips I have discovered.  

Worshipping God feeds my soul; preoccupation with myself starves it. To find my true self, I need to focus on the one who created me. Praising God reminds me I am his child and his servant. His will takes priority over my own. 

Time spent encouraging friends is life-giving; excessive isolation drains me. Some alone time is good, but God designed us to serve, learn, and grow in community with others. “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17). 

Scripture nourishes my soul; worldly wisdom withers it. The prophet Amos predicted his people would face “not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11). Our spiritual hunger should lead us to read the Bible, not rely on a constant diet of man-made ideas.  

The Holy Spirit is like a cooling breeze and a refreshing drink of water, but doing things in my own strength leaves me weary and dry. The start of a new year is a good time to pray, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me” (Psalm 51:10-11). 

Constant activity exhausts my soul; sabbath rest refreshes it. A healthy rhythm in the new year will include regular times to slow down, be still, and enjoy the Good Shepherd’s “green pastures” and “quiet waters” (Psalm 23:2). 

Prayer sustains my soul; giving God the silent treatment weakens it. Conversation with the heavenly Father is a privilege to be enjoyed, not a burden to be endured. The year ahead will go better if we heed the apostle Paul’s instruction, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). 

Decade after decade, century after century, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). To be spiritually fit in the new year, let’s partake of “the living bread that came down from heaven,” for “whoever eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:51).  

Personal Challenge: Write down one specific spiritual growth goal you will pursue in 2024.