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?”
