THE SOUL’S MEAT AND DRINK

 

THE SOUL’S MEAT AND DRINK Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me… the one who eats this bread will live forever. John 6:57-58 But I have to speak to you concerning knowledge which is satisfying, concerning truth which does fulfill the spirit; and, in doing so, I must draw a clear, hard and fast line. No one knows the flavor or effect of meat and drink who has not tasted them. It is no use for me to speak to anyone about meat which he has never seen or tasted; if he is to appreciate my testimony concerning it, he must have partaken of it. Or if my testimony be concerning a certain drink, he must at least have sipped of it; otherwise, let me, speak as earnestly as I may, he will be unable to comprehend what I am saying. Now, my Lord Jesus is meat indeed, but the soul must feed upon him if it is to know how Christ nourishes it. Our Lord is drink indeed, but unless this drink enters into the soul, it will be a stranger to the spiritual power which Jesus always imparts when he is received into the heart by faith. If you have really received Christ Jesus the Lord, if he is “in you the hope of glory,” then he is the spiritual food of your soul; and you can, from your own experience, confirm our Lord's declaration, “My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” O Christian! If you want to be strong to live a Christian life, you must feed upon Jesus! It is only in the strength of Christ Himself that one can, in these days, live an honest and upright life. And fervent love is produced by this same spiritual meat and drink! If Christ is to you merely some historic personage who once appeared upon the earth, and now is gone forever, your love for him will be very faint if it exists at all; but if he is your own personal Savior, your ever-present Friend, your living Brother, your Surety and Substitute who bore your sins in his own body on the tree, then your love goes out to him in a vehement flame. I do not wonder that Mary Magdalene was among the holy women who were last at the cross, and first at the tomb, for Christ had done so much for her that she loved him much; and in proportion as you realize what his life, death and resurrection have done for you, your love for Jesus will become stronger even than death itself. There is no other joy that is even for a moment worthy to be compared with the joy which comes to us through Jesus Christ, and the man or woman who has once had a sip from that well wants to lie down beside it, and drink it dry. We know it's not possible to do that, but oh that our soul could be so enlarged that we could take in all the love of our incarnate God; the wondrous heights, and depths, and lengths, and breadths of that love which will forever surpass our knowledge. Excerpts from The Soul’s Meat and Drink: A sermon by C. H. Spurgeon Updated for modern language.