Getting Spiritually Fed

“I’m just not getting fed!”  I can pretty much guarantee when someone says that they won’t stay at their church much longer.  But Christianity is full of paradoxes and in this idea of feeding there is another; if you spend your spiritual life looking for food, you won’t find it.

Jesus’ words about spiritual and physical nourishment are often enmeshed.  Consider – in Matthew 6:25-26, Jesus tells us not to worry about what we will eat.  He then points us to the birds in the air and says they are fed by God Himself.  The point, as Martin Luther points out, is to get about the business of living life as God intended and God will take care of your needs.  It’s the same in our spiritual nourishment.  When we do what God wills, we will be spiritually fed.  Consider Jesus in John 4.  He is moving through Samaria and while His disciples are trying to find food, Jesus is talking with the woman at the well.  Jesus, always keeping in mind what God wants, speaks to the woman about spiritual matters.  When the disciples return, they are surprised to find Jesus talking to her.  As she runs off to the village to tell everyone about finding the Christ, the disciples encourage Jesus to eat.  He tells them He has food they don’t know about.  After expressing their confusion, Jesus explains His food is to do the will of the one who sent Him.

Understand please – Jesus is sitting there, tired from a long journey.  He engages this woman in a serious discussion.  It revitalizes Jesus.  He sees a harvest in front of Him.  The woman hadn’t even given Him water as far as we know.  If Jesus had focused on His thirst or His hunger, He would have missed an opportunity.  He would not have been doing God’s will.  And He would have remained weak and needy.

Is this a corrective?  Absolutely.  When we are feeling spiritually starved, this is not the time to look for people who are going to feed us.  Rather, it is a time to spiritually feed others; to serve; to keep in mind the things of God.  Returning to Matthew 6, Jesus ends the matter this way – seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness – and He’ll supply our need.