Luke 4:4 “But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'”
As we have seen in the previous section, scripture identifies two main categories of believers i.e. babes in Christ and mature believers. And so the question is asked how do believer’s transition from being babes in Christ (where all believers start out) to becoming spiritually mature. To answer that question we can look to the natural. There are two key ingredients to natural growth i.e. physical food and physical exercise. In the spirit that principle remains exactly the same, for there are also two key ingredients for spiritual growth to occur, and those two ingredients are spiritual food and spiritual exercise. In the passage of scripture quoted above our Lord Jesus teaches us that just as we need physical food for our physical bodies, so we also need spiritual food for our spirits. In this passage our Lord taught us that the spiritual food that we partake of is the word of God. So why is it, that God’s word is able to sustain our spirits? Again if we look at the natural we can more easily understand why. In the natural, our physical bodies are sustained by physical foods and the reason for that is because both come from the same source, i.e. the earth. For our physical bodies are made of the dust of the earth and the food we eat i.e. vegetables, fruit, meat, etc, also comes from the dust of the earth. And so we see a principle, which is that in the natural, dust sustains dust. In the spiritual the principle remains the same, it’s just that the source is different, for our spirits are sustained by spiritual food and the reason for that is because both come from the same source, i.e. the word of God. For our spirits are born of the word of God and thus are nourished by that same word, for the word of God is spirit (John 6:63). And so we see the principle, which is that in the spiritual, Spirit sustains spirit.
1 Peter 1:23 “having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Peter confirms the truth to us about the source of our spirits, for he declares in this passage that we have been born-again through the word of God. It is our spirits that are born of the word of God when we are born-again, and so the word of God is the DNA so to speak, of our spirits. So what impact does the word of God have on the spirit of the believer? Again if we look in the natural we can have a better understanding of what happens in the spiritual. In the natural the longer you starve your body of physical nourishment the weaker it will become. In the spirit it is no different, for the longer you starve your spirit of spiritual nourishment the weaker it will become as well. In the natural we normally feed our physical bodies on average three times a day. However if you choose not to eat any food on any given day you will find yourself feeling substantially weaker by the end of the day, especially if you live an active lifestyle. The reason for that is because your physical body is using up the stored energy that it has as a result of your food intake. And so with no food intake to replace the energy used your body has no reserves to draw on, and consequently you begin to weaken. In the same manner a believer, who does not feed their spirits on God’s word at least daily will never grow strong in spirit. When our Lord Jesus taught us to ask our Father to give us our daily bread, He was talking about the spiritual bread of God’s word (Luke 11:3). I want you to notice that the Lord Jesus never taught us to ask for our weekly bread but rather our daily bread, because we need to feed on God’s word each and every day. And so the exact same principle applies in the spirit as applies in the natural i.e. those who choose not to feed their spirits with God’s word every day will become weak in spirit, and will thus incur all of the problems that go along with a weakened spiritual condition.
Michael E.B. Maher
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