John 6:35
And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

When we are really hungry, pretty much anything sounds good, maybe even things we don’t like or wouldn’t normally eat. When we’re overly hungry, perhaps it’s easier to make unhealthy choices because we’re so desperate to satisfy our hunger. The thing about hunger, though, is that it is a process. We usually eat multiple times a day to keep satisfying our body’s need for food. And we have to eat if we want to live, but we have to eat properly if we want to be healthy. “Empty calories” may fill us up so that we’re not hungry anymore, but they don’t really provide the nutrition we need.

The same is true spiritually. From the earliest moments of our lives, our souls are hungry to be filled with the goodness of God and a relationship with Him. Just like we don’t have to decide to be hungry, our need for God is built-in. He is what makes us complete and whole and satisfied. But if we starve ourselves spiritually, we may seek after anything to fill our lives and try to find satisfaction, maybe things that are bad for us. In a weakened state of desperate hunger, we may find ourselves turning to things we never thought we’d reach for.

Jesus is our bread, our food, the perfect thing to satisfy a hungering soul. He Himself is our nourishment, our strength, our sustenance. We can be filled spiritually by Jesus and need never feel the emptiness or the longing for something more. But if we starve ourselves of fellowship with Him, if we neglect to partake of the nourishment He offers to us and start feeding on the things of the world, we risk becoming spiritually sick and will have to face the consequences of our choices.

A steady diet of Jesus Christ and His Word will satisfy our souls to fullness and keep us spiritually healthy, and He promises to provide us with all that we need. Often people will go on strict diets to lose weight or perhaps for medical reasons. By limiting ourselves to only what is best for us, we can thrive instead of merely surviving. And when we keep Jesus at the center as our sole source and focus, we can live the abundant life that He has promised us.