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The Lord’s disciples had walked into the city of Samaria to find something to eat while Jesus conversed with a woman about eternal things (John 4:7-10). When they returned with lunch and encouraged Jesus to eat, he replied, “I have food to eat that you do not know about…My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work” (John 4:32, 34).
Food occupies our thoughts every day, multiple times a day. Our survival depends, by God’s design, on our regular intake of food. Consequently, we seldom let too many hours pass without eating something. Yet the Bible also teaches that as important as our physical health is, our spiritual health is much more important.
• “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37).
• “Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life” (John 6:27).
• “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).
With those verses in mind, consider this sobering question: if my spiritual health is more important than my physical health, and I feed my physical body each day, then how much should I be feeding my soul? God “forms the spirit of man within him” (Zech. 12:1), and that spirit needs to be nourished just like the body in which it lives. Are you feeding your soul each day?
Eddie Parrish
Bedford, TX