Better Food

“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.’ But He answered and said, ‘It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” [1]

Jesus Christ was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for over a month.

Jesus Christ is the Prophet that Moses foretold. The One who would be like him. Moses fasted forty days while receiving the Word of God.

The ministry of God’s Word is a serious matter. Not to be taken lightly! The Word is also great sustenance.

The devil wanted Jesus to compromise His fast to feed His physical hunger. Jesus stuck with God’s Word. Unlike the first Adam, He did not exchange what is eternal for that which is temporary. He knew His ministry of the Word was about to bring salvation and healing to many people.

Jesus was content with being godly.

“Godliness with contentment is great gain.” [2]

Godliness or God-likeness is being filled with God’s love that pours out self for the sake of glorifying God and blessing people with God’s love for them.

Such love is a lifestyle and a spiritual discipline. It is a constant dependence on God’s Spirit and His Word for the sake of being a witness for Christ.

“Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it.” [3]

How do we know what love is?

“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” [4]

While talking about stewardship before His disciples and before the Pharisees, Jesus told the tale of two men.

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.” [5]

The story ends with the rich man in torment and the beggar with Father Abraham. The rich man had not regarded God or His Word, but the beggar obviously had a relationship with God that continued on into eternity. Though people despised him, God did not.

“Look carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.” [6]

Esau was a self-willed and a self-serving man. He was Isaac’s firstborn son. His birth position meant that he would inherit the bulk of his father’s wealth. But one day, due to a momentary hunger pain, he vowed away his firstborn inheritance to his younger brother Jacob in exchange for a bowl of red stew. [7]

Food is good and needful. We are to receive it with thanksgiving to God. [8] But we should ask God to satisfy our soul’s hunger. Believing in Christ and sharing His testimony with others satisfies that hunger.

It has been said that anything done for 30 days repetitively will become a habit. Why not replace sumptuous food items, those foods loaded with transfats and sugar (the ones that are not good for you) with reading about Jesus Christ in the Bible.

God’s Word transforms those who receive and act on it.

The Protestant Reformation started in 1517 with a man named Martin Luther who placed adherence to God’s Word above all else. The Lord blessed his sowing. Many lost souls heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, received Christ and were transformed by Christ to become proclaimers of the Gospel.

Here’s what Jesus once said to people whose lives revolved around eating food, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” [9]

[1] Matthew 4:1-4
[2] 1 Timothy 6:6
[3] Proverbs 15:17
[4] 1 John 3:16-17
[5] Luke 16:19-21
[6] Hebrews 12:15-17
[7] Genesis 25:29-34
[8] 1 Timothy 4:3-4
[9] John 6:27