01/12/2018
Where do you receive your sustenance? What food do you depend on for most of your nourishment? As humans we are omnivorous which means we eat a variety of food. Some of us like salads and vegetables, some like chicken, beef, or grain, and others prefer a mixture, but as we grow more into our spiritual selves our diet undergoes a change. We see this in the menu of Jesus Himself.
“So the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.”
John 4:33-34 ESV
There is a very common tendency when someone is highly focused on a certain task, mission, or problem, and that is to neglect food. It occurs when we are worried or in mourning as well. In these times food just doesn’t seem to concern us. Mothers are very familiar with this feeling. I remember my own mother going through periods without eating as she fretted over a sick child, and I know that my wife would also get so involved in preparing meals for our family that she would not want to eat herself. We have all heard the saying that “my mother hadn’t had a hot meal in years.” Not eating is common, but ultimately not good for our bodies. Not eating spiritual food has a negative impact on us as well.
Jesus was singularly focused on the will of God; so much so that physical food didn’t have the same appeal to Him. His apostles found that they had to bring Him meals, but in fact He was being fed a much different diet. Jesus was being sustained by His efforts to Serve God, and the intensity with which He did this stifled His desire for physical nourishment.
During His life Jesus went without food for different reasons, and on several occasions. By way of example, He withheld food from himself when he fasted:
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”
Matthew 4:1-2 ESV
He didn’t eat when food was scarce and He needed to feed others, as we see in the miracle of the loaves and fishes. On this occasion there is no mention of Jesus or His disciples eating when the 5000 were fed:
“Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted.”
John 6:11 ESV
And, in the case of our opening scripture (John 4:33-34)... He also didn’t eat when He was preoccupied with doing the will of God.
So I ask you again... Where do you receive your sustenance? Are you totally absorbed in the physical world, and feed yourself on its bounty, or are you fed primarily spiritual food as the apostles were? As both physical and spiritual creatures we are omnivores, having a physical and spiritual need for sustenance is natural, but as one of our nature’s increases, then the other subsides.
“and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.”
1 Corinthians 10:3-4 ESV
As we grow spiritually, the Word of God becoming your primary source of nourishment. Are you experiencing this?
“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
1 Peter 2:2-3 KJV
Perhaps God is providing you with a secret food; a hidden manna that keeps you strong...
“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”
Revelation 2:17 KJV
Whatever your source of spiritual nourishment, and all of them may be sustaining you equally, you must take some manner of food in order to grow. In our focal scripture this morning, Jesus was not denying himself spiritual food even though He had little desire for physical food. As He was growing in spiritual stature, he was beginning to diminish physically. The balance was shifting in Him.
Where are you in the balance between your physical and spiritual development? To answer this we only need to look at what you eat... so what is on the menu today?
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for placing a spiritual nature within my physical self. I thank you for your hand that is within the glove of my body. As I select my meals today, let the balance shift heavily towards the sustenance that doing your will provides me. Give me increase in you Holy Father. My desire today is to dine with Jesus Christ at your table. Let His bread and His wine be my meal... my blessing... my nourishment. Most Merciful Father you are my provider and I look to you for provision in all things. You feed me, clothe me, and provide me shelter, and you do this both spiritually and in this world. Your Word is my milk, your Son my bread and wine, and your secret manna my hidden strength in prayer and service. Help me Father to increase in spirit as this body diminishes. We are meant to age physically, and to die, but our spirits are to continue on... prepare me Father for this inevitability, and feed that within me which will live on with you in eternity. Strengthen my faith, my spirit, my soul, so that I might worship and sing praised unto you forever. Praised be your name from within the depths of my soul; from my place at your table.
Rich Forbes