Fed from Above

Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. - Jesus (John 6:27)

I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty… I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. - Jesus (John 6:35, 51)

My wife is the gardener in the family. She is the one who can look at a piece of our yard that is bare and brown, and transform it into a palette of beautiful colors. Our gardens are her ongoing works of art bursting forth in colors across the spectrum.

Sure, I get the privilege of planting some of the flowers she buys, and I also get to water the plants (which in the hotter months is a daily routine for us). But Carol is definitely the one with the artistic vision. Even our driveway becomes a blank canvas for her to work.

This past spring we had a bare patch of ground along the back wall outside of our kitchen. Carol found some landscaping edge stones in our garage, and she created a nice little plot for some colorful flowers. So I worked the ground with a shovel, and we added a bit of manure to enhance the soil, and Carol bought some pretty pink flowers and white flowers (unlike my interest in butterflies, I don’t keep track of all the plant names in our gardens). With consistent watering, and the warm (not scorching) morning sun, the flowers quickly flourished.

One day as I was watering in the back yard, I noticed something interesting about this particular garden. The flowers planted in the middle of the garden were several inches taller than those on either side. I was curious, because we had spread the manure evenly, and we always watered consistently along the whole garden. So, why was this particular part of the garden doing so much better than the rest?

Then I looked up, and I found my answer. From the gutter just above the middle portion of the garden, there was a steady drip of water. Now, it hadn’t been raining a lot, so I got up on the roof to see why there was water in that part of the gutter. It turns out that the condensation drain from our upstairs air conditioning unit empties right at the seam of the gutter above the garden. And so the middle part of the garden was getting an extra feeding from above.

It made me think about how important it is for you and me to be fed from above.

I’m not really talking about the kind of food that nourishes our bodies, as if we should look for burgers and fries to rain down upon us. No, I’m talking about what we do to feed our spirit, to nourish our soul, to grow our heart.

Jesus told his disciples, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” (John 6:27) He was telling them that they needed to focus on satisfying more than their earthly appetites; indeed, they need to recognize that the true food that they need – food for the soul – can be found only in him. “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty… I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:35, 51)

How do you feed your soul? Where do you turn to satisfy the hunger and thirst of your heart?

In our day and age, we are told that any number of things will give us the satisfaction we need: super cool cars and SUVs, bigger houses with all the bells and whistles, climbing to the top in your profession, being the most popular person in your peer group, pursuit of the perfect body image, freedom to do whatever we want… The list is endless. 

You know what I call those messages? Fake news.

Your heart won’t find the nourishment it needs unless it is fed from above. Your soul won’t flourish unless its diet is the bread of life. We need a steady diet of Jesus.

Every. Day.

Here’s the deal: In our garden, we can see the difference because it is clear which plants are being fed from above. In terms of your physical appearance, people might not be able to notice anything different if Jesus and his love aren’t the center of your diet. But in terms of your character, and in terms of your capacity for grace and compassion and love – it will make a visible and tangible difference when you are being fed from above. I guarantee it.

Don’t work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.

What feeds your soul?

Actually, the better question is, “Who feeds your soul?”

Reflecting Jesus

“...you have stripped off the old self with its practices  and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator." (Colossians 3:9b-10)

Nearly every year over the past 25 years, my family has vacationed to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. There’s something about the majesty of the mountains, the breath-taking rigors (literally) of high altitude hiking, and the cool mountain air that draws us back year after year. 

That, and the fact that my family has a cabin out there. Can you blame us for wanting to wake up to this view every morning?

One of the things that we enjoy is going to some of the lakes in the park. Some of them are hiking destinations, but a few are lakes to which people can drive, park, and simply walk around the perimeter. We like to go in the early morning or the late afternoon, when the masses of people aren’t there. 

I love taking pictures of mountain landscape reflections in the lakes. It’s as if simply appreciating the mountain view isn’t enough – with the reflection, we get double the beauty.

Of course, if there are clouds, or if it’s windy, or if someone throws a rock into the lake, then the reflection isn’t as good. 

But every once in a while – usually around sunrise and just before sunset – the water is as smooth as glass. Here’s one of my favorites:

The reflection in this one is so good, you may not have realized that the picture is actually upside down!

All this discussion about reflections has given me pause to reflect: How well do I (we) reflect the grace, mercy, love, and glory of Jesus in my (our) life? I mean, as one who follows Jesus, shouldn’t people see something of Jesus in me? And if I’m more and more intentional about living like Jesus, shouldn’t my life reflect Jesus more and more?

As it says in Genesis,

“Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness’… So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:26a, 27)

Of course, the image of God in us was corrupted by our sin. But it’s still there, and we should still be able to reflect something of that in our lives. And the truth is, Christ has redeemed us and made us into new creations; so we should be able to manifest more and more of Jesus in our lives.

Not long ago I was reading a book by a guy named Scott Sauls. (The book is Jesus Outside the Lines, and it’s about looking for ways that Christ-followers can relate to one another respectfully when everyone else is demanding that we choose sides and vilify anyone who is not on “our side”). In the book, he said this: “Even though all fall short, there is still a lot of truth, beauty, and goodness that come into the world through the people of Jesus. None reflect Christ perfectly, but many reflect him still.” (p. 123)

“None reflect Christ perfectly, but many reflect him still...” I agree. Completely.

I think one of the things I need to do (and you do as well, if you’re honest), is look at things that blur the image of Christ in me. What are the “gusts of wind,” or the “cloudy skies,” or the “stone thrown into the lake,” that distort what people will see of Jesus when they see me? 

Paul (you know, the guy who wrote most of the New Testament) says, “...you have stripped off the old self with its practices  and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.” Right before he says this, he lists some of the “old self” that distorts the image in which we are created, including sexual immorality, impurity, lust, greed, anger, malice, filthy language, lying, and some other things.

I confess: I have lusted (but so did Jimmy Carter, and he was President); I get angry; I mutter under my breath, and I’m not saying “golly gee”. And I’ve done a lot of other things that the Bible says I shouldn’t do.

And so have you. All of us have.

I don’t want to dwell on those things, though. I simply want to say that any of these things, when we manifest them in our lives, put a blemish on the image of Jesus Christ. And I don’t want to tarnish Jesus, not if I can help it. In this life, I’ll never be able to reflect Christ perfectly; none of us will. But my prayer is that I can, through my life, offer others more and more of the goodness, beauty, and love of Jesus.

I hope I can do that, every day.