What Kind of Food Are You Eating?

"Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, 'Rabbi, eat.' But He said to them, 'I have food to eat that you do not know about'...Jesus said to them, 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work'" (John 4:31-32, 34)

If you had asked me this question several months ago, beloved, I would have had to sheepishly admit that I had not always eaten what was nourishing and good for me. That practice is now thankfully gone and I am hopefully on the right track where food is concerned.

The disciples had taken the time to travel into the Samaritan village of Sychar to buy food for themselves as well as for their Master. When they returned to Jacob's well, however, and tried to get Him to eat some of the fare they had brought back with them, He refused it and said the strangest thing to them: "I have food to eat that you do not know about." It wasn't until they belabored the point by asking whether perhaps someone else might have brought Him something to eat that He revealed to them that the "food" about which He spoke was nothing less than busying Himself with doing the Father's will.

Sharing the good news of His coming sacrifice with the Samaritan woman was to Jesus like eating a 7-course dinner! It refreshed Him and rejuvenated His weary body. It blessed His spirit and strengthened Him for greater work that lay ahead. His focus was clearly not on whatever they might have brought back with them, but rather on the needs of those whom He met along the roadway of life.

What a wonderful example He is to us in this regard today, beloved! Sometimes as Christians our gaze is set so rigidly upon ourselves - our needs, our dreams, our desires - that we miss the opportunities to feast on the manna of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with those who cross our paths. That is precisely why He urged them to "lift up" their eyes and see what was right in front of them. People from Sychar were already on their way to Jacob's well, having heard the news from the woman that she had discovered the Messiah. Those people would need that good news and it would be the privilege of the disciples to share it with them. The disciples did not understand, beloved, but they were just about to feast on the food of heaven! They were about to have their spirits refreshed and their batteries recharged as well.

What kind of food are you eating, beloved? If it is from the world's menu, then know this - in short order you will hunger and thirst again for nothing that the devil has can satisfy. In fact, all of his dishes are empty! But the one who follows the example of Jesus and chooses as his daily fare the carrying out of the Father's will for his life will discover spiritual nourishing that satisfies completely and eternally. Reach out and touch someone in the name of Jesus, beloved. And as you do, enjoy your food!

Ron