Undernourished Christians

John 4:31-34 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?” Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.

In a country where there is still much to eat, we have a lot of us Christians that are walking around suffering from starvation and malnutrition. Observing the outer appearance is very deceiving; as many of us look healthy enough and even look like we could stand to feed ourselves a little, if not a lot, less. However, that is not what I speak of today. Many of us outwardly portray something that is not true. Many of us look well nourished, but on the inside we are far from healthy. The disciples were concerned, like many of us, with satisfying what they thought was the most important thing, physical hunger. Now, do not get me wrong. If we are not careful about what we feed ourselves physically, we can certainly cause great damage to our bodies. However, what the disciples did not understand, and many of us do not understand, is that spiritual food is far more necessary than physical food. When I say spiritual food, many will counter and tell me how much they read and study their Bibles and how much they pray and spend quiet time with Jesus. These things are all good and definitely things we do to feed ourselves spiritually; but when Jesus spoke of spiritual food, He spoke of doing, not receiving. In other words, when we read this passage carefully, Jesus' food was doing the Father's will. It was telling others about salvation and receiving the Bread of Life Himself and receiving the Living Water only He can give. Jesus' spiritual food was serving others and making them aware of the fact that they could receive the free gift that God offered, in Him. Far too many of us are doing the things that help feed us, such as reading and studying God's Word, and praying, but we are still undernourished because we are not witnessing or serving. If we are in any way confused about this, or doubt it, then let us simply reread Jesus' own words, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work."

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Romans 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive His free gift of salvation today (Romans 10:13).