I’m beginning to wonder if it’s possible to be an atheist. Maybe I just don’t believe they exist. I mean, we’re worshiping creatures, right? So, for example, if a man lives for personal wealth and says he doesn’t believe in God, he’s not really an atheist, he’s a materialist. Money has become a god to him, that which he worships and from which he derives his identity.

We are spiritual beings and therefore have spiritual needs. We use people and things to satisfy our physical needs, but how do we satisfy our spiritual needs if we leave God out of the equation? How do we find forgiveness, peace, satisfaction, purpose and meaning apart from our Creator? Obviously, people are desperately seeking to fill that spiritual void with material things, like sex, money, power, fame, and other addictive vices.

I once heard a story about a boy who went to spend a weekend with his grandfather on the farm. As he assisted the farmer with some of the daily chores, he noticed hay was given to the cows but grain and oats to the horses. “Grandpa,” the boy asked, “Why do you only give oats and grain to horses and not the cows? Do you like them better?” “Oh no,” said the old man, “It’s just that horses don’t digest hay very well. A horse can starve to death with a belly full of hay.”

This sounds eerily like Satan’s strategy. He gives man things to fill him up without meeting his needs. Illustrations abound. People climb the corporate ladder only to find it doesn’t bring peace or satisfaction. People obtain status and fame, yet it leaves them frustrated, empty, or depressed. Satan then peddles the lie that the problem is one of quantity. He convinces men that what they need is only a little more, while he knows the prize will always remain just out of reach.

As Christians, we understand that our deepest needs can only be satisfied in Jesus Christ. God created us with needs so that we might seek him. As C.S. Lewis explains, “God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on.”

Satan convinces men that what they need is only a little more, while he knows the prize will always remain just out of reach.

If you have lost your zeal for God, if you have no passion for prayer and discover that your life is joyless, perhaps you’re like the horse with a belly full of hay. It’s possible for Christians to starve spiritually by filling their hearts and minds with worldly things. Too often, believers neglect true spiritual food to feast on the devil’s junk food. Their viewing habits, reading, music, and even relationships are such that they leave them spiritually malnourished.

Unless God’s Word is a priority our spiritual health will suffer. It’s not arbitrary that the Bible describes itself as food, and our Lord Jesus himself claimed to be the Bread of Life. Moses reminded Israel of their need for spiritual nourishment saying, “[God] humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 8:3)

It takes an honest man to admit his spiritual diet is lacking. It takes no less discipline to maintain a healthy spiritual diet as it does a physical one. The first step in both cases is cutting the wrong food out and getting the right food in. So, what fills your heart and mind but leaves you spiritually empty? Examine your spiritual diet and determine to feast daily on the Word of God and the blessing of spiritual health will return. Don’t settle for a belly full of hay.