You Are What You Eat

I came across an old article this week that I had saved from many years ago. It's one of the weirdest stories I have ever heard, and it's true. It's about a Frenchman named Michael Lotito, and his rather weird appetite. Let's just say he was into metal.

Lotito, who passed away in 2007, was an entertainer with the nickname Monsieur Mangatout ("Mister Eat Everything"), who happened to like to eat things made of steel. At the time the article was written a few years before he died, he had eaten eleven bicycles, seven shopping carts, a metal coffin, a cash register, a washing machine, a television, and 660 feet of chain.

Lotito says it wasn't easy eating his first bicycle. (It never is!) "I started with the metal and moved on to the tires," he recalls. "It was really difficult to finish off the rubber. Metal is tasteless, but rubber is horrible." Later, Lotito learned to swallow pieces of tire and frame together. 

But none of that compared with his biggest meal: a Cessna. That's right, Lotito once ate an entire light airplane; 2,500 pounds of aluminum, steel, vinyl, Plexiglas, and rubber. With a meal like that he would cut the metal into pieces the size of his fingernail and consumed about two pounds a day.

Most people would agree that Michael Lotito had an unhealthy appetite. (Some of us would go ahead and conclude that he was a nut!) But sometimes our own appetites, especially as they relate to spiritual things, are equally questionable.

For both good and bad, what we take into our lives has a great effect on our spiritual growth and health, or lack thereof. That's why the Scripture is full of references to our spiritual diets. We are told to, "like newborn babes, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow in respect to your salvation." (1 Peter 2:2). Hebrews goes on to tell us that our diet should grow from spiritual milk to meat as we mature in our faith. (Heb. 5:12-14) Jesus said that "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." (Luke 4:4) In other words, our spiritual diets are so very important to who we become as Christians. Truly, we are--or we become--what we eat.

And as we talked about last Sunday, there are simply no substitutes for taking in God's word on a regular basis if we are going to grow our faith in Him. Because "faith comes through hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." (Romans 10:17)

So, what's on your menu for this week? I don't recommend metal or rubber, but I would highly suggest that you set aside time each day to feed on God's word this week. More than anything, my prayer for you is that you would truly "hunger and thirst for righteousness" so that you may be filled.

I'm praying for you, and I can't wait to see you this Sunday, as we join together to worship our Lord.

--Pastor Ken