Food for Thought
We all love picnics. They represent a fun time as we prepare the food, the entertainment and the guest list. I think that the main idea behind picnics is the eating! Everyone usually brings some kind of a special treat that we all like to sample and sometimes in excess. We are left feeling overly full and tired. Forget the volley ball for a while and it's not good to go swimming after eating, so let's just lay here for awhile and rest. Our bodies will digest all this and maintain the essential vitamins and proteins and minerals and everything else turns to fat, or gets wasted. It's a good thing that we dispose of this because we'd blow up otherwise. But in all this eating, it's possible to be starving for another food. I'm talking about spiritual food.
Jesus talked about the parable of the sower and the seeds. If this parable isn't understood then nothing else concerning the kingdom life will be either. It all begins here. This is where the true Christian walk begins.
"While anyone is hearing the Word of the kingdom and does not grasp and comprehend it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in the heart. This is what was sown along the roadside." Mt. 13:19 (Amplified)
In other words, the sower is you and me. We are like the farmer who plants his seeds, expecting a harvest when they are planted and nurtured. It's common sense to know that in order to reap a bountiful harvest, seeds must be planted in fertile, well prepared soil and then must be watered to soften the outer shells in order for the roots to break out. Once this happens, the roots can only grow as deep and strong as the soil allows. When the soil is good, the roots will grow deep and strong. This is true of the human heart as Jesus compares it to the different kinds of soil. And just like at a picnic, when the food is left unguarded ants are sure to come in and march of with it. This is how the adversary the devil operates. When you aren't looking he'll come stealing in and take what you have. Jesus tells us to guard our hearts from this happening.
Jesus is saying that unless we get well fed with the Word of God, the enemy will dry up our roots when we aren't well watered and fed.
In the Greek language, the meaning for Word used here in this passage is logos. It means God's Word is something said, a thought, or a reasoning of our mental faculty. God speaks to us through His Word, the Bible. The more we get fed and watered in His Word the stronger and deeper our roots will grow and less likely that the enemy can kill them.
"The sower sows the Word." Mk. 4:14 (Amplified)
Again, Jesus simply says that it is we who sow God's Word in ourselves. It's as easy as picking up a fork and lifting it to our mouths when we spend time with God in His Word, His thoughts are revealed to us, He reasons with us and this is when we will begin to sow or plant His Word in our own lives as well as the lives of others. It's to be shared, just like the food at the picnic. It's no fun keeping it all to yourself.
"And Jesus replied to him (Satan), 'It is written, Man shall not live and be sustained by (on) bread alone, but by every word and expression of God.'" Lk. 4:14 (Amplified)
In this verse we read where Jesus was in the desert for 40 days and nights with nothing to eat or drink. He was weak from hunger in the physical sense. It's just like Satan to tempt us when we are weak and out of sorts. It's important to keep in mind that he tempted Jesus, he didn't succeed. Even though our Savior was weak from hunger in the physical body, He still remained strong spiritually and told Satan that because He was well fed with the Word He could not be tempted.
This Greek meaning for Word here is rhema. It is a command, or to speak of. In other words Jesus told Satan that aside from physical bread, man shall be fed and sustained by the command of God. As Jesus said, "It is written" was because God had said this same thing earlier to Moses in the desert when he was leading the captives to freedom.
"And He humbled you and allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you didn not know, nor your fathers know, that He might make you recognize and personally know that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord." Deu. 8:3 (Amplified)
God fed his people a bread which was sweet to the taste called manna that fell from heaven to feed them physically to keep them alive but Moses informed them that man doesn't live by bread alone, but instead by the word that proceedes from God's mouth. This was the rhema word.
And as God is still the same today as He was yesterday and will be tomorrow, He doesn't change what He says or does. Just like the Israelites in the desert, God intends us to eat His Word in order to live spiritually and the stronger we are in it, the enemy does not have a chance in hell to take our lives from us.
I'm sure you've heard that your body craves what it needs. Does your spirit crave something with meaning? If so, get in God's Word and let Him feed you.
In knowing His Son Jesus as your Savior, the One who lived and died, was buried and rose on the third day to pay the price of your sins God will make sure your appetite is well satisfied with His Word that will give you eternal life.
The next time you go on a picnic, ask yourself if you are still hungry for more of God or is all the junk food satisfactory? It's your choice.
Vivian Gordon, writer and teacher of the Word. She studies God's Word daily and spends time in prayer. The Holy Spirit moves through her to be a blessing to others.
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