John
6: 53-71
You've heard the saying "You are what you eat." Everything that we take into our bodies, through eating or drinking, has an effect on our physical health and growth. Certain foods are good for us, and certain foods are not so good for us. Some things, if we choose to consume them, can kill us very quickly, and some things can kill us slowly. In the same way, the things which we take into ourselves spiritually will affect our spiritual health and growth.
In the Gospel of John ch. 6 vs. 53-54, Jesus makes a rather startling statement. He says, "unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." Many of Jesus' followers, after hearing these things, turned away and quit walking with Him, not truly understanding what Jesus meant. In vs. 63, Jesus explains to them, "It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." Jesus is not speaking here of a physical eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood, but that His body and blood are the necessary requirements for eternal life spiritually. The physical acts of eating and drinking do not give eternal life, but only God's grace, through our faith, which lays hold of the righteousness of Christ and feeds upon His flesh and blood. His flesh and blood are His very life. It consists of the life He lived on this earth, completely submitted to the will of the Father, and ultimately, of the willing sacrifice He made for us all on the Cross to redeem us. It is into this very life of submission and sacrifice that we are called to and invited to receive.
Whenever we eat something, we take it into ourselves. Jesus is speaking about taking Him into ourselves spiritually. And just as we need to eat daily for proper physical growth, we need to feed upon Him daily for proper spiritual growth. As Christians, we can grow closer to Jesus, or we can grow apart from Jesus, and whatever we feed upon will determine which way we are growing. We must not reduce Jesus to a Sunday brunch, while we feast on junk food the rest of the week. Make no mistake about it; the world's buffet will cause you unhealthy growth. But God's banquet gives true life, health, joy, and peace. And God's banquet can only be found by coming to Jesus Himself, not in any kind of devotion to religion or self-sufficient spiritual development.
Who else can you go to? Only Jesus has the words of eternal life. Begin to consume God's word and to commune with Him on a daily basis, and you will receive all the nutrition you need for healthy spiritual growth. There are many people in these last days that are growing away from Jesus. Will you also grow away?
~ Jim Krauser
