A New Year, A New Diet

“At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.”

Daniel 1:15

The arrival of 2021 is a welcome sight for many of us. I’m not sure about you, but a new year has always been a fresh start, filled with hope and expectations of what God has in store for this year. However, maybe this new year has more significance in years past, not about what’s coming but about what was left behind – last year. 2020 for most of us, was a year of anxiety, unknowns, and a time of great loss and grief in my own life. And yet, God grew us so much, revealed His face, imparted us with new things. These things we will revisit! But we can also now look expectantly to a new start!

It’s natural to begin 2021, like each January in years past, with some new resolutions. Whether you make resolutions for your health, to achieve certain accomplishments, or financial goals, we’re reminded in Daniel that determining our spiritual diet is equally important for the year. As a little context, Daniel and his three friends, were uprooted from their lives in Judah and taken captive in Babylon. For those not familiar, the region of Babylon in spiritual terms represents a world system not of God. Today, that may resonate with some of us. We are in a world that in many ways operates, thinks, and teaches us the contrary principles of God’s kingdom. So, what did Daniel do? He established that what he consumed would not be what the world consumed, even though that the food recommended by the king.

Here are a few “dietary” recommendations from Scripture about what we are to consume (or not consume) as we look to this new year:

God’s Word: Give us each day our daily bread. (Luke 11:3)

Jesus reminded us that it is not just bread that we live off of each day, but the word of God. While it seems like we’ll never forget to feed ourselves with food, our spirit needs the same nourishment from God’s word and Scripture. (This is where it’d be so easy to make a low carb bread joke J).

God’s revelation: How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Psalm 119:103)

God speaks to us as we pursue him and read his word. Daily he longs to give us revelation of who He is and what He is doing. He speaks a future and a hope over us. I don’t know about you, but in this crazy world, how sweet is what God is saying to us rather than what we try to gleam our future from world events and our news cycle.

God’s Presence: “that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” (Acts 3:18-21)

We were designed to walk, to commune, and abide with the Lord, God. It is innate to who we created to be. Let us aside time in this year to be with Him, and he will restore, revive, and refresh us as we connect with Him.

Let God Remove Unhealthy Thinking: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)

God desires to set us free from the patterns of thinking and our thought-life which can often be based on lies, fear, anxiety, anything that is not from God. He longs to realign us with His way of thinking! This is something that deserves much diligence and skill, but how much would this change our life on a daily basis this year if we can refine our thought life!

Remove Unhealthy Sources of Information: “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)

In a diet, most people address to issues – adding healthy foods but also removing unhealthy foods. It seems like the same applies to our spiritual life too, we can fixate our gaze upon godly things but shouldn’t we also remove those things that are detracting from God, His plans, purposes, and even what He is saying. I don’t know about you but the constant stream of a 24 hour news cycle, it’s commentators and pundits, require me to constantly ask God for discernment and what is He actually saying or doing in the midst of a news cycle. My prayer is this year to let God filter, re-frame, and guide me in how much of the news and social media I consume. (and yes, I realize many of us work with news in our jobs…)

“At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food.” The diet of Daniel and his three friends is a powerful reminder to us that what we consume to feed our spirit does make a difference. Not only were they prepared to exist in a secular world, they set themselves apart from culture and thrived. How encouraging as we fix our gaze on the things of God and pursue him, we will be changed by our times with Him and more than fit to take on the world and the year that lies ahead in 2021.

Reflection Questions:

Lord, lead me and guide me in my time with you.

Lord, show me those things to remove from my life and what I need from you each day.

Prayer:

Father, I devote this year to you.

I long to walk in your ways, to hear your voice, and to grow in knowledge of you.

Lead me and guide me as I spend time with you.

Feed me with your presence and with your word.

Give me discernment in the things that I see and what I listen to.

Lord, I look forward to growing in you this year.

Amen.