One of the greatest things about Fall is the food. The fields are ripe with produce and the garden is overflowing with zucchinis, peppers, tomatoes. Pumpkins and bushels of apples litter our kitchen floor, waiting to be canned and sauced. You can smell the breads, cakes, and pies now, and then in a few weeks, we’ll feast on pheasant, venison, and turkey. It is the blessings of harvest and hard work and thanksgiving to Him who provides all our daily bread.
But man does not live by bread alone. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever (John 6:53-58).” No Fall food is true food or true drink. Physical food tastes great but doesn’t satisfy in the long run. Spiritual food, to eat and drink of Christ (not literally, but figuratively) will last forever. Spiritual food gives life, true life. Eating regular food may fill your belly, but feeding on Him is nourishment for your soul.
His body, the bread, His blood, the wine. How can we eat and drink this true food? Believe in Jesus. “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent (John 6:29).” We are not made right before God by doing things, performing, keeping the law, or good deeds that outweigh the bad. The only thing we bring to Jesus is our need for spiritual food, our need for Him. All we can give is the truth that we have nothing to offer, and humbly depend on Him alone. “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling,” the old hymn goes.
What happens if you don’t eat? How long can you live without eating or drinking? Maybe a week or two, three tops? How long can you live without spiritual food? Are you weak and anemic today, spiritually malnourished, spiritually sick? Eat of Christ: read your Bible, go to church, pray, sing. In Him there is joy and life every day and everlasting.