I’ve been listening to Podcasts called John Eldredge and Ransomed Heart. John Eldredge is the creator of Ransomed Heart Ministries and author of the book “Wild at Heart.” In his book as well as during many of his Podcasts, John quotes Proverbs 4:23 which says, “Above all else, guard you heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” I don’t think that ever clicked with me until today.
I was studying John 6:34-40 today and the light bulb went on.
34"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread." 35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty, 36But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me: that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day."
Look at verse 35. When we think of going hungry or thirsty, we immediately think in the physical sense, as did the people whom Jesus was addressing. In considering what Christ is saying about our fulfillment of life and personality in this passage, I got this picture in my mind the heart being our “spiritual stomach.”
When we’re hungry we go to the fridge and grab a snack and when we’re thirsty we grab a bottle of water; which in turn satisfies our needs for sustenance. In the same way, when our spiritual stomach—a.k.a. the heart—is empty, we can go to the Lord to fill it. We do that first by believing in Him who was sent (v 37). He will never turn us away. And then we eat the bread of life daily, just as the Israelites did in the desert when they were starving and God fed them with manna.
The only way to guard our hearts from the enemy’s attacks is to surrender them to Christ and eat of the bread of life! I’m such a fool for thinking I could find my food to fill my starving heart!
Have a good day.
I think you're quite right here. If I understand rightly, it is in the same vein as 'humanity does not live by bread alone.' The body needs food and water to continue functioning, living; but the spirit needs much more, it needs things of the spirit to see a purpose and have any peace in living. Trying to live in a purely material way has been shown to leave people empty even when physically bloated. In fact 'comfort eating' ( a vice of mine!) could be a mistaken attempt to make the things of the flesh meet the needs of the spirit. If I'd been a Christian in childhood I would have known to pray when feeling depressed instead of finding physical food to eat. It's good to hear from you again and read your posts. Best wishes.
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