Food for Thought

Pain De Vie (Bread of Life)

Reading this evening in the gospel of John, I found a verse that has followed me through the night. Combined with a post at the Broken Messenger, where Brad Huston outlays the problems with prosperity; I am really questioning where I go to feed myself. The verse is in John 4, after Jesus speaks with the Samaritan woman and His disciples return from buying food:

Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something."
But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."
Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?"
"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work." (John 4:31-34 niv)

Jesus is satisfied by seeking God first, not His flesh. It is this self-surrender that is Brad's focus:

Jesus time and again stated that self-denial was a total surrender to the Lord, not an idealistic one. He also stated that such total devotion is necessary and that above all else our belief must be authenticated through our love for Him by rejecting every earthly thing so that our full dependence rests upon the Lord Jesus Christ. This full dependence must be just that and it cannot be shared with both God and the cares of the world.

This is not to say Jesus wishes us to starve in order to follow Him; it is more the priority in which we place our relationship. How easy is it to shift focus to our perceived needs while leaving our faith wanting. With our eyes on Jesus, our needs will be met by the One who knows them best; concern about ourselves just leaves us hungry for another day.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:25-27 niv)

Jesus tells us that life is more important than food and clothing, but do we trust Him? Going back to the Samaritan woman, Jesus reveals what only grace can provide:

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:13-14 niv)

To worry about the everyday is to live life hungry.