Feeding the Spirit

“Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead . This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof , and not die . I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” John 6:49-51

Again, Happy Thanksgiving to all, even the poorest among us has so much to be thankful for!  Every Thanksgiving celebration I have ever been a part of has had lots of food (and I probably ate too much every time.)  This food is prepared to feed our natural/fleshly bodies, which our bodies then breakdown into energy and nutrients to sustain us.  Yet this is only half of our being.  We are also spiritual beings, having a soul which needs sustaining also.

We know that Jesus on earth had two natures, one divine and the other fleshly.  We too have a “dual” nature, only ours begin as both pointing away from God.  Then through the divine drawing of God, He gets our spiritual nature to point toward Himself through salvation/redemption.  Then our life spent in sanctification is trying to align the fleshly side with our spiritual side.  Our goal is to have both “arrows” pointing all glory and honor toward God. (read 1 Cor 2:10-16 again.)

When we eat at Thanksgiving we generally have many foods to choose from and fill our plates.  In order to feed/sustain our spirit, we have only one choice, Jesus Christ.  In John 6 (above) Jesus reveals that we must partake of his body and blood for life.  This is not only eternal life, but also our current life.  The Greek of this passage reveals both the noun for “life/eternal life” but also the verb of “live”.  Jesus gave himself no only for our future eternal life, but also for our current life.  He said in John 10:10(b) “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

If we are to sustain and grow our spirit, we must “feed” it with Jesus.  Our flesh gets weak and sick if it is not fed regularly, so it is also with our spirit.  Would you like to live on one meal a week (Sunday morning?)  or even just a couple per year?  This underscores the importance for us to feed ourselves.  A toddler learns how to eat physical food quickly, but many Christians never learn to glean from the Word of God for themselves.  If you would like to do better, take small steps adding 5-10 min per day, or adding breadth to your study.  The important part is eating regularly!