the sustenance and nourishment of the Christian life. By Charles Spurgeon.

John Chapter 6, Verse 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

The Christian life begins with Jesus, continues by him, and is sustained through him. To the final breath, the believer must live by a continual feeding upon the living Jesus. As bread sustains the body and water refreshes the soul, so Jesus Himself is the nutriment of the new nature. He does not merely give food, He is the food. He does not merely point to life, He is the life. To grow in grace is to feed more deeply, more consciously, more dependently upon Him.

We must feed upon His person. Jesus is both fully God and fully man, one glorious person forever. As God, he is infinite, all-sufficient, and unchanging. As man, he is tender and sympathetic. To meditate upon who he is, his holiness, his compassion, his power, his humility, is to draw strength from him. Many believers are weak because they meditate so little on Jesus himself. They study scripture academically, yet neglect communion with the living Savior.

but a holy life flows from beholding Him, and we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another. We become spiritually strengthened, not by working harder, but by beholding the Lord Jesus in His wondrous person.

We must also feed upon His work, The cross is not merely the doorway into the Christian life. It is the daily feast of the believer. Jesus did not die to make salvation possible, but to actually save his people from their sins. His atoning death has fully satisfied divine justice, silenced every accusation, and secured our eternal redemption. When the conscience is troubled, when Satan accuses, when the heart feels cold or condemned, the believer must feed again on the Lord Jesus.

Feeding on Jesus should be a continual act. Yesterday's food will not sustain today's strength. Manna could not be stored overnight, neither can past experiences sustain present grace. Jesus must be daily fed upon by faith, through the word and prayer. As we read scripture, we are not merely gathering academic information, we must feed on the slain lamb himself. Jesus is set before us in His Word, and faith eats and is satisfied.

The world offers many substitutes, religion without Jesus, service without communion with Him, knowledge without devotion to Him. These may busy the mind, but they never nourish the soul. Only Jesus sustains spiritual life. To feed on Him is to find strength in weakness, joy in sorrow, light in darkness, and hope in trials. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for Jesus, for they shall be filled.

And having fed on Him here by faith, they shall one day feast with Him forever in glory. Jesus is the daily bread of the believer. The soul can never feed upon Him too much. The Christian life consists in continually feeding upon Jesus. When I meditate little upon Jesus, my soul begins to starve. You may feed upon doctrines until you become lean, unless you feed upon Jesus himself. All our strength for living a holy life comes from feeding upon the crucified Savior.