FEED ME

In my office there is a house plant. It sits on the edge of my desk near the window. I did not put it there; it was there when I came to the church. At first, I did not pay much attention to it. Then one day I noticed that it was beginning to droop. It was then that I noticed an old Diet Coke bottle next to it with a note taped to the side. It said, feed me. I went and got some water and watered the plant. Soon it perked up. At that point I realized that if that plant was going to survive, I would have to take the responsibility to feed it regularly.

                God placed within each one of us a soul. We did not create it, God did. Our soul is like the plant in my office. We get busy with life and we forget about the care of our soul. Then one day we notice that something isn’t right. We start to feel a little wilted on the inside. It is at that point that we become aware that we have not been feeding our soul. If our soul is going the thrive, we need to take the responsibility to feed it.

                Unfortunately, many people are trying to feed their soul with spiritual junk food. Over the past several decades there has been a rise in both an awareness of and a desire for spirituality. People have begun realizing that there is more to life than money, sex, and entertainment. They have begun looking for a sense of purpose and meaning. To find these they have turned to a generic spirituality. This new trend insists that every person creates their own sense of spirituality. It might come from a traditional religion or from some other unorthodox source. It really doesn’t matter. Spirituality is very personal and very individual. Each person has the right to define their own meaning and purpose in life.

                This new spirituality is like a diet of junk food. It tastes good, it gives us a temporary high, but it ultimately leaves us unsatisfied. Our soul continues to wither even as we try harder to satisfy our hunger.

                Paul talks about this unhealthy diet in Romans 1:18-25.

    The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

    For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

    Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.

                The answer to our spiritual hunger is found in only one place, Jesus Christ. As Jesus boldly proclaimed in John 14, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus is the bread of life, the fountain of living water. All other sources of spiritual nourishment will leave us hungry and thirsty. Only Jesus can satisfy our spiritual need.

                So how do we feed our hungry soul? It begins by placing our faith not in our own efforts, but in what Jesus has already accomplished for us on the cross. Jesus has given us an open invitation to come to Him in faith and to find the nourishment we are longing for. Matthew 11:28-30

    "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

                Just like we need to eat regularly to maintain our physical bodies, we also need to regularly feed our soul. It is really not complicated, but it does require effort on our part. We can not be passive in our faith and expect our soul to thrive. There are four prime things we need to do to keep our soul fed and strong. There are other things we can do to nourish our soul, but these are foundational.

                We feed our soul by feasting on God’s word. The Bible is spiritual food for our souls. In the pages of the Bible, God has revealed who He is, who we are, and how we can live in harmony with God. The more that we feed on God’s word, the stronger we will become. When writing to his son in the faith, Paul reminded Timothy of the value of feeding on God’s Word. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

                We feed our soul by allowing God to shape our life through prayer. Too often we view prayer as a spiritual wish list. We ask God for stuff and He provides it. Although there is a place for asking in prayer, the main focus of prayer is aligning our heart and mind with the heart and mind of God. It is learning to seek what God desires. It is allowing God to speak directly into our life. In prayer we intentionally turn over the control of our life to God.

                We feed our soul by entering into genuine worship. Worship is seeing the value of something and celebrating it. One of my favorite places in the world is the North Shore of Lake Superior in northern Minnesota. When I stand on the shore and look out over that vast expanse of water and hear the waves lapping up on the rocks I am revived and rejuvenated. That is what worship is intended to do for our souls. It is not a boring obligation, but an amazing opportunity to gaze into the glory of God and celebrate who He is.

                We feed our soul by engaging in active service. In a physical sense, we can eat all of the correct foods, but if we do not exercise, we can still end up in an unhealthy state. So it is spiritually as well. We can feed on all of the correct things spiritually, yet if we do not exercise our faith in our everyday lives, we will still be spiritually unhealthy. When Jesus was asked what the most important thing we can do is, He responded that the greatest thing we can do is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your mind, and all your strength and all your soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself. When Jesus said this, He was not referring to having some kind of warm fuzzy feeling for others. He was talking about loving god and others in practical ways. John tells us in 1 John 3:16-18 that it is not enough just to talk about these things, we need to do them.

    This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

                I watered the plant in my office this morning. It was beginning to droop again. The old Diet Coke bottle reminds me that I need to feed the plant regularly. It also reminds me that I need to feed my soul. Is your soul feeling a little wilted? Maybe it is time to check your diet.