EATING FLESH & DRINKING BLOOD! (John 6:53)

Nourished BY THE LIFE of CHRIST!

Most people are looking for inner satisfaction. Things they think that will require riches, pleasures, or even popularity to bring it about. Our desires can end up making us choose things that can be unfulfilling in the long run. How many lives have succeeded in getting what they always wanted, but soon after, found that it really didn’t satisfy.

   John 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. . . . .  56. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.  57. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

These verses have been hard to understand but as we look at them in a spiritual sense, they can best be understood in the physical sense. Many of us have never been truly hungry or thirsty, but when our body does let us know, there is a type of pain involved. When we are empty we know that we need nourishment to ease the pain.

The pains of life arise in trials in many forms of negative reactions such as anger, self-pity, jealousy, fear, slander, bitterness, greed, worry, hatred, etc. Many people feel that it is all right to have these feelings as long as you don’t carry them out or show it. But as most of us know, we can end up having mental and physical problems by holding them in. God uses tests (trials) to show us what is in our hearts (Deut. 8:2-3). This is why we need to learn to eat and drink of Christ.

When we worry, He may speak words that give us peace like “I will never leave you nor forsake you”. When we are greedy, He may speak words that cause us to be kind like “Give, in order that I may give you priceless moments of joy on earth that will become treasures in heaven.” The temptation to steal something to make us look or feel better can be transformed by words like “You are special to Me just the way you are”.

Anger over our mate spending money can reveal the sin of unbelief in God as our provider and security. Their spending may show our selfishness in not giving our mates praise, time or intimacy to fulfill their needs. By taking our anger to Christ, He can reveal what we need to do to fulfill them. Being obedient can then change their hearts that can heal the unwise spending.

Self-pity from the way one looks can be transformed by words like “I want you to get your power and pride from Me” (2 Cor. 12:7-10). As a child, I had an illness that caused others to make fun of me and as a teenager, nobody wanted to date me. As a senior in high school, I didn’t realize I was healed, and I have never had a seizure since. At age 35, I felt self-pity because I missed the fun and dating as a teenager and God spoke to my heart and revealed that the illness was HIS Love-Gift to me; as it protected me from the wrong crowd and caused me to look to Him for comfort and friendship. Raised in New Orleans, with long blond hair, a great shape, and outgoing personality; I would have been been on Bourbon St. and would have ruined my life.

When we are tempted and God gives us His Word to overcome the temptation, we are eating of the Body of Christ. When we have pains of sin or conviction we need to go to the Bread of Life (Word) and partake of HIS Life in order to experience the Life that transforms the pains into the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5:22-23). When we learn that Jesus was called names, rejected, ridiculed, betrayed, forsaken, convicted, and crucified; we come to realize that HE knows how we feel. Hebrews 5:8 tells us that Jesus “learned obedience” (how to hear & obey) through the things HE suffered. Let us learn to hear the Father in the midst of every trial. He may even cause us to be hospitalized or even have a loved one there, for us to be a witness to one in the next bed or even a worker. When my oldest son was hospitalized, there was a 14 year old next to him who got saved, as his parents did not come to see him much.

Our fears can also tell us that we do not trust God to provide for us, protect us, or even fulfill us. Fears reveal the sin of unbelief (Heb. 3:12-19). The children of Israel feared for lack of water and feared the giants in Canaan. When we cry to HIM for direction and wisdom in life, we can know that He will give us His Bread of Life that will guide us in all that we do; when we love and obey HIM. (Jam.1:5-8; Rom. 8:28)

Many of our burdens can become the drink that allows us to partake of the sufferings of Christ (His blood). When we become hurt or jealous of our children because of their choices of friends, fads or pleasures; we are drinking of the jealousy and sorrow that God has for His own when we put things above Him. His jealousy knows what is best for us. Our anger over a rebellious child, can be how God allows us to taste of His pain toward His people that go astray. When we can taste how God feels we are drinking of the Blood of Christ.

The next time our flesh reacts in fear, anger, jealousy, anxiety, bitterness, etc., let us remember that they are just hunger pains that tell us to eat (receive) of His flesh (Word). There is no condemnation when one is in Christ (Rom 8:1) and learns to go to Him and receive His word of Life that will transform those pains into the joy of knowing Him. In those trying times God will comfort us as we learn to hear HIS voice (Word) speaking, “I AM”. . . ‘yours’; (i.e.…. your Security, your Dwelling, your Insurance, your Provider, your Protection, your Fulfiller, your Life, and even your Lover and Faith.) Through trials we can learn that we died (to self) with Christ and it is no longer us living but HIM in us (Gal. 2:20). We can even know that we are “hid with Christ IN GOD”; because dead people no longer get fearful, worried, jealous, etc.(Col.3:3; 1John 4:16-18). If you want to be more that just an heir of God who receives a small portion, then you have to be willing to die to self and become a joint-heir of Jesus Christ because you are willing to suffer with HIM (Rom. 8:17)! Bertha Smith, missionary to China, told a young man, “You don't have to beg God to help you to die to yourself. You just tell Him you want to; and He'll kill you.”(Heb. 12:6)

John 17:3 - And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.