Who's Your God? What Will You Eat?

Thank you for joining me today. I pray this message edifies you and glorifies God. ‘Pressing Toward the Goal’ is the subtitle in my personal Bible App for Philippians 3:12-15. It perfectly describes what Paul wrote. He mentioned how he was not professing to be perfect but that he pressed on toward the goal, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me.” (v. 12).

Pressing forward is important to remember, but specifically, pressing forward in this day. Because all we have is today. The Lord’s prayer says, “Give us this day our daily bread”. In Christ’s model prayer, He didn’t tell us to pray for the bread of tomorrow, but rather to ask for today’s bread. If you recall the Israelites in the wilderness, they were given daily bread. God did not give them weeks of bread at a time … only a daily portion (Exodus 16:4). And Christ also said in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

God will give us the strength to press forward this day. And if we live to see the next day, He’ll give us strength in that day too. Lamentations 3:23 tells us the Lord’s mercies are new every morning. Every morning, God gives us a new set of grace and a new chance at forgiveness. Every day is a new day of mercy, a new round of strength, and a new day to worship and seek the Lord. Daily bread is allotted to us; yet, we usually want more.

We don’t want to ever feel as if we need new strength. We don’t want to feel as if we need new mercy, new grace, or new forgiveness. So, we want God to give us weekly bread, monthly bread, or even yearly bread. But if God gives us more than our promised portion of daily bread, then we will not run to Him daily to receive it.

If Jesus, Our Bread of Life, gives us mercy, grace, and newness in any frequency other than daily, then we would not come to Him daily. If He gave us weekly bread, we would only run to Him weekly. If monthly, we’d only seek Him monthly. If yearly, Jesus could expect to see most of us once a year.  And even though Christ offers Himself to us daily, many of us refuse to eat of Him daily. We refuse to draw near daily, to pray and to read the scriptures daily… and then we wonder why we are spiritually malnourished. It’s because we don’t eat daily. We eat occasionally.

Paul says he pressed toward the prize of Jesus, just as we should. Yet, be mindful that this pressing is a daily pressing. Whatever happened yesterday is done. The seeking of God that you may have done yesterday is done. Seek Him today. The wrongs and sins that were committed yesterday are done. Ask for forgiveness, thank God for His mercy, and press towards the prize today. For all we know, all we have is today.

Get strength from the Lord today. Draw near to Him today. Be led by Him today. Know that what He gives today is enough. And if He allows us to live tomorrow, He will give us what we need tomorrow just as He did today and all the days before. His grace is sufficient for the day. Press on today.

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Paul not only encourages the believers at Philippi to press on, but he also warns them. “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.” (Philippians 3:18-19).

The verse before Verse 18 tells the Philippians to follow Paul’s example and the example of those who walk worthy of the gospel. Verses 18-19 describe, of course, those who do not walk according to the gospel—those whom the believers should not follow. These false believers caused Paul to weep. They were enemies of God… and their god was their bellies, and they gloried in their shame.

Gluttony may come to mind when one thinks of their god being their belly. Indeed, some people are more driven by their appetite than they are driven by God. Some people will never turn down a plate of their favorite foods, but they will turn away from the truth and conviction of God. This is idolatry, and the person who does this has made their belly their god. Yet, this verse is not only for those who commit gluttony. This verse is much deeper.

When Paul speaks of their god being their belly, he’s speaking of satisfaction. The belly is how we fill ourselves. When we eat food, it satisfies. But these people were not satisfied with Christ, rather, they were satisfied with things that made them enemies of the cross. Their god was their belly because they were not satisfied with Jesus; rather, they were satisfied with the ungodly things that filled their worldly appetite.

Paul called them enemies of the cross because they were for the things that Christ was against. They held on to the very sins that Christ died for. The things that should have turned their stomachs is what filled them. Lust, perversion, pride, gossip, murder, lying, drunkenness, wrath… these are the things that filled them. And because they chose to fill themselves on these things instead of Christ, they made their bellies their gods… they made the satisfaction of worldly things their god instead of allowing Christ to be their one true satisfaction.

And as if their bellies being their god wasn’t enough… Paul says they also “gloried in their shame”. Yet, this didn’t only happen at Philippi. Just look around you and you will still see mankind glorying in shame. Haven’t you seen people be prideful in their sin? People who should be ashamed of sinning against God, yet they laugh and rejoice in the wrongs? A fornicator telling of their deeds as if it is something to smile about? A drunkard bragging about how incoherent they become at a party?

These actions grieved Paul. He warned the Philippians against this with weeping.

That same warning is sounding off in our ears today. Dear reader, who’s your God? Is it the Lord of the heavens and the earth? Or is it your belly? Do you gain satisfaction from filling up on Jesus or your flesh? Christ declared that He was and is the Bread of Life in John 6:35. He says if we fill up on Him, we will never hunger. But when we choose to fill up on our lust and worldly affections, we have made our bellies our gods.

Philippians 3 closes with Paul confirming that those who have made their bellies their gods will end in destruction. Yet, he also confirmed that those who make Jesus their Lord will have our citizenship in heaven with transformed, glorious bodies. The option has always been ours. What will you eat? Things of this world or the heavenly manna that is Christ? Who will be your god? Your belly or God through Jesus Christ?

Choose today whom you will serve … your belly or the Lord. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

I pray this message has blessed you and that God will keep you. Until next time, take care.

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Join me again next week for another Write On! Wednesday article. The Now That's a Word! YouTube Channel is here: https://YouTube.com/@nowthatsaword

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Thanks for your time,

Quin Arrington