Tag Archives: spiritual food

Sustenance We All Need; the Nourishing Bread of Life

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Sustenance is defined as “food or drink regarded as a source of strength, nourishment, or the maintaining of someone or something in life or existence.” As I am sure all of you are aware, sustenance is vital for life, and all of us need something to eat. After all, what is it that sustains YOU? But, are there different KINDS of sustenance? And do we eat what we need?

Jeremiah answered these questions by pointing out that there is food, and then there is FOOD. “Your words were found, and I ate them. And your words were to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord God of Hosts.” (Jeremiah 15:16, NIV)

The Apostle Peter made a similar comparison about our nutrition and God’s word: “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow by it…” (1 Peter 2:2, NKJV)

Different Kinds of Food

We need sustenance in the form of food or nutrition to grow physically. An important part of any training regimen involves proper fuel that provides the correct nutrients for the body… But how about other types of growth? Intellectual growth requires education and information; social development requires knowledge about etiquette; but what about spiritual growth? How does one sustain a spiritual life?  Besides the verses just mentioned here, there are several times that the Word of God is described as our sustenance or our spiritual food. It’s an interesting analogy, and one that deserves some thought.

First, it indicates that spiritual growth is a process, not something that happens instantly. You don’t eat all the meals of your life in one sitting, and you don’t absorb the Bible that way either. Peter says that we start as immature spiritual beings, and should begin with “the pure milk” of the word, receiving our sustenance in a form we can handle. It’s an analogy that makes sense. You grow in understanding God’s word as you “eat” it and apply it in your life, and it provides your spiritual sustenance.

You Are What You Eat

Second, look in the mirror at your physical self. Then imagine your spiritual self. If God’s word is your spiritual sustenance, then what kind of shape is your spiritual man in? How much sustenance does he or she get? When you look into your spiritual mirror, who do you see?

I feed my physical body, (usually more than it requires) and I make sure it gets the fuel it needs to grow and stay strong. It’s easy for us to see the results of feeding our physical man. Now, picture your spiritual man (or woman) in your mind’s eye. He’s up there, waiting for nourishment. His needs are the same as or even greater than your physical body’s. But is he or she strong and healthy? How many meals a week are you feeding HIM (or HER)?

For most of us, I’d bet that our “spiritual self” is just wasting away, looking like a prison camp refugee, half-starved and emaciated. Our spiritual self is weak and listless, propped over in a corner just waiting for the preacher to spoon-feed them their weekly meal…

Come to the Banquet

If God’s word is our spiritual food, we should be sitting at the banquet table enjoying a feast each day, not waiting for someone else to toss us a crust of bread every once in a while. Think about your poor spiritual body, and consider feeding it a little life-giving nourishment. Sit down and have a spiritual meal every so often.

Jeremiah says that if you do, a couple of things will happen. First, God’s words provide a reason to live with joy and rejoicing in your heart. Not a bad outcome if you’d like a little more JOY in your life! And second, Jeremiah says he was identified with God. He was called by God’s name, which means he was in the family, fully adopted as an heir—another positive result and another reason to rejoice. So eat. Grow. Rejoice. Repeat.

Eat Well, and Live

Look into your spiritual mirror. Who is looking back?
Are they strong, or is there maybe something that they lack?
If the Word of God is food, how often are they eating?
Do they get nutrition in the meals that you are feeding?
Can you, like Jeremiah, say the Word of God is filling?
Do you really want some? You can get it, if you’re willing.
You can say with him, “Thy Words were found, and I did eat them”,
And folks will sense a godly spirit in you when you meet them.
Remember this: the word of God is food, and it is real.
Your spiritual man should eat some every day, at every meal.

To buy my latest book, Real People, Real Christmas: Thirty-one Days Discovering the Hidden Treasures of the Christmas Story, go here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729034918/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For Slaying Giants: Thirty Days with David, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Slaying-Giants-Thirty-Devotions-Ordinary/dp/172568327X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535814431&sr=8-1&keywords=Slaying+Giants%3A+Thirty+Days+With+David
To buy my book, Beggar’s Bread, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Devotions-Ordinary-Guy/dp/1535457392/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-1&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread
For the Kindle Edition, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Bo-Jackson-ebook/dp/B01K5Z0NLA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-2&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread

Worldly Wisdom Offers Worldly Results: Is That All There Is?

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Since the Three Wise Men are part of the story of Jesus’ birth, you have to ask, “why were they considered wise?” (Ok, maybe it’s just ME who has to ask…) Christmas cards say, “Wise men still seek him”, but it begs the question: why don’t all men the world considers wise seek Jesus? In fact, some of them don’t care a fig for the Christ or the season in which we celebrate him. Perhaps there are different kinds of wisdom?

More Than One System?

It’s just about time to come up with your New Year’s Resolutions, so you should probably use wisdom to determine exactly what those resolutions should be.

Most people might aspire to being “worldly-wise”, a term I heard my grandmother use about someone who was well-traveled or cosmopolitan. The dictionary echoes that by saying that worldly means “experienced and sophisticated.” Paul saw it a different way: “Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly.” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3, NIV)

These verses remind us of a couple of important things. First, Paul makes a distinction between being spiritual and being worldly. You see this often in the New Testament, because “the world” is selfish, sinful and proud, whereas God’s Spirit is loving, giving, and kind. In 1 John 2:15, John reminded us that “if any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

All the Wealth in the World…

Stop and think for a moment: what is celebrated by the world? A short list includes wealth, athleticism. achievement, power, beauty, notoriety, and intelligence; I’m sure you could add a couple more. These things in themselves are certainly not bad, so why does Paul teach that being worldly is not good?

Jesus taught that there was a difference between the things of God and the things of the world. He said, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.” (John 15:19) What things in your life are worldly? What percentage of your life is attached to the carnal or the temporary as opposed to the spiritual and eternal?

That’s a hard inventory to take, isn’t it? When you consider that 1 John 2:15 says, “Love not the world, or the things of the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Strong words about what we humans can get pretty wrapped up in…

So, Which Is It?

The first place we go is probably to all of our material stuff, but Paul characterizes worldliness here as more of an internal condition or an attitude. He says that people who live by the Spirit don’t have jealousy or become contentious with one another—both of which are driven by selfishness. What are you selfish about? What makes you feel “righteous” indignation? Those are both worldly reactions, and they happen with us all the time. When they bubble to the surface we should ask ourselves, “am I being led by the Spirit or by my own emotions and desires?”

Second, Paul reminds us here that living in the Spirit is a journey. Becoming spiritually mature doesn’t happen instantly. He compares spiritual growth to that of an infant, saying that he gave the Corinthians milk because they were not ready for solid food. What about you? How grown up are you spiritually? Are you still drinking milk and being spoon-fed, or are you ready for heartier fare? What intellectual food are you eating?

Well Balanced Meals

There’s a lot of junk food out there that won’t contribute to our growth. If we start as infants, then it’s important for us to mature spiritually, “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ!” (Ephesians 4:14-15). Eat wisely, not worldly. Grow well.

Out of This World

The world is full of traits and values that are celebrated;
To worldly folks, the spiritual life is somewhat over-rated.
A worldly man is known for being quite sophisticated
With appetites for carnal things that never quite get sated…
Paul told us that worldly folks still have a ways to go,
Advising that we should drink spiritual milk to help us grow;
That we henceforth be not children tossed by doctrine to and fro,
But grow up in the spiritual truth the Lord wants us to know.
Be aware of worldly things, and do not be deceived;
But grow in faith and love, and in the Spirit you received.

To buy my latest book, Real People, Real Christmas: Thirty-one Days Discovering the Hidden Treasures of the Christmas Story, go here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729034918/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For Slaying Giants: Thirty Days with David, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Slaying-Giants-Thirty-Devotions-Ordinary/dp/172568327X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535814431&sr=8-1&keywords=Slaying+Giants%3A+Thirty+Days+With+David
To buy my book, Beggar’s Bread, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Devotions-Ordinary-Guy/dp/1535457392/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-1&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread