John 6:48-58 (The Message)
I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate the manna bread in the desert and died. But now here is Bread that truly comes down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread will not die, ever. I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live—and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self.”
At this, the Jews started fighting among themselves: “How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?”
But Jesus didn’t give an inch. “Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you. The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me. This is the Bread from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always.”
We all have our favourites foods, and have no trouble in feeding our bodies, but do we give as much priority to feeding our minds?
There is a picture of Bart Simpson which shows the things that are on his mind.
Priority was given to:
Sleep
Donuts
Sweet, sweet beer
Lower priority went to:
Do’s
Dont’s
Sex and
TV time
In a very small space of his brain was:
Family time
In Romans 12:1-2 (TNIV) we read
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
John Wesley(1703 – 1791) said:
‘We are encompassed on all sides by persons and things that tend to draw us from our centre’
Our centre is God
We need to devote as much time to feed our minds as we do to feeding our bodies
The Means of grace (God at work in our lives) includes the following:
Prayer
Fasting
Holy Communion
Baptism
Christian Community
Searching the Scriptures
Searching the Scriptures is one way of feeding our minds on what God says.
Feed your mind
Feed your mind on God’s word
Study – The Bible
Wrestle – With what God says in the Bible and about our lives
Inhabit – Try to see through the story or passage, put yourself in the position of those involved, and try to imagine how they felt or acted.
Eat alone – Study his word in your own quiet time
Feast together – Study his word with others
Vary the diet – Read different parts of the Bible. Take a short passage and meditate on it for a week
Savour your favourites – We all have favourite passages just as we have favourite meals
Dine out – Go to large Christian events such as Cliff College, New Wine, Spring Harvest, ECG.
Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
Psalm 34:8