In times of national emergency by reason of threatening or
actual war, one of the most vital considerations, and one that very largely
governs the issue, is that of the food supply. To conserve it is a primary
feature of both defence and aggression. To keep it from falling into the
enemy's hands is a tactic of victory. If this is true in the natural and
earthly realm, it certainly is true in the spiritual and heavenly. It is not
always realised by Christians that they are born (at new birth) into
conditions which are such as mark an emergency. That is to say, a state of war
has existed from the day that Adam sinned, and that warfare is becoming more
intense as the end of the dispensation approaches. A feature of this warfare
is the food question, and the final issue in the case of each believer depends
upon spiritual food to a very serious degree. As in the time of Gideon, so
now. The Midianites then sought to spoil and steal all the crops. Gideon was
marked by God as one to be taken up and used as a deliverer because secretly
he gave himself up to conserve food for his brethren, and
so
defeat the enemy.
But to consider the matter of food generally, there are
some quite simple analogies between the natural and the spiritual.
Firstly, then, is the matter of
Appetite
A first question asked of a patient
by
a doctor is, How is your appetite? showing that this is closely
related to sickness or health, and may be a symptom. Now a fact to be
recognised is that in the Christian there is an "inner man", which is
altogether other and distinct from the outer man, and has a whole set of
definite faculties and functions. This inner man is capable of growth; of
being in sickness or in health; of being weak or strong; of being able to do
spiritual exploits, or being impotent in the fight. No matter how full of
natural vim and energy a Christian may be, he cannot by any natural strength
effect even one iota of spiritual value. There will, sooner or later, be a
terrible breakdown both in the worker and the work, and any emergency will
quickly precipitate this, if there is
no real spiritual
constitution. This depends upon spiritual food. But inasmuch as it is so easy
to go on in natural energy and activity and fail to realise that it is not
really spiritual power, we should apply the test of spiritual life and health.
How is your appetite? What kind of an appetite have you for spiritual food? Is
it poor? Is it easily satisfied? Is it faddy and fussy? Do you have to have
your spiritual food prepared and served up in such a pleasant and tasty way as
to make you feel that you are eating and yet not eating? What can you eat? is
a question for the delicate and invalid.
For the truly healthy and sound, the demand is for
"something that you can put your teeth into"; "something solid"; "something to
live and work on"! This is a fairly sound test of our spiritual life, and
Paul, the Apostle, has left us in no doubt about it. "I, brethren, could not
speak unto you as unto spiritual, but... as unto babes. I fed you with milk,
not with meat; for... ye were not able to bear it" (1 Cor. 3:1,2).
A Self-deceiving Practice
One of the most treacherous and disastrous features of the
feeding side of life in recent years is the confectionery side. Pleasant to
the taste, nullifying the sense of hunger
for the moment,
quick to be taken, the sense of need or desire for
anything more substantial is destroyed. But it is a false world, treacherous
in that it fails to make for constitution, and when the rigid test comes; when
epidemics are rife, and germs are abroad; when for any reason endurance is
called for or a crisis has to be passed, then the fatal lack of constitution
is revealed.
This all has a tragic counterpart or parallel in the
spiritual life. There is a distressing tendency to serve up spiritual things
in the way that will make the least demand. Attractiveness is a primary
consideration. The solid classics of a generation or two ago have been
supplanted by that which can be read in a few minutes, and then is done with.
It is said that this is what is demanded, and there is little demand for
anything more substantial. Is this a symptom of the spiritual state of the
majority of Christians today? We cannot but foresee a terrible
"fainting
in the day of adversity".
The perils of this condition are many and great. One of
them is a predisposition to error. Errors usually gain their advantage by
presenting something which offers the line of least resistance. That is to
say, they seem easily to solve some difficult problem, or offer a quick way to
a desired end. There is something pleasant and fascinating about every
substitute which Satan produces for the pure truth. People who are not
prepared to take or accept the way of the Cross in all its implications are
carried away as by a flood when some beautiful lie is offered as a way to
reach the same end. The Word of God makes it unmistakably clear that the Cross
demands or postulates the setting aside of the whole race in Adam, and of man
by nature; and that there is no hope for any, only as they are of the new
creation in Christ Jesus. Universalism — the pretty lie — will destroy the
real meaning of the Cross by saying that the Cross is such a great thing that
it could never allow of a single unit being lost eternally. We only cite this
as indicative of how a superficial state of spiritual life resultant from poor
feeding lays people open to be swept away by beautiful errors.
Discrimination and Seriousness of Purpose
A predisposition in the physical realm to any malady is
often overcome by constitutional means. So it is in the spiritual.
In the physical body there is a wonderful system of testing
(accepting or rejecting) food properties. The blood-stream performs the double
function of bringing nourishment to each and every part of the body, and
taking from it its waste products for elimination. Everything that is taken
into the body is carried to the little doors, so to speak, or cells, and there
it is challenged by the action of certain secretions. Such of the food as is
found to have nutritive qualities is accepted, broken down, and transmuted
into vital tissue and nerve fuel. If there are useless or poisonous elements,
they are — in a healthy body — rejected. A battle may ensue for their
ejection, and some consciousness of this battle may be registered in the
person concerned. The point for the moment is, that in the matter of food
there is required a basic vitality by which values are discerned, determined,
and turned into the thought, the speech, the action, and the nature of the
individual. On the other hand, the harmful elements, and that which is lacking
in value, will be perceived and rejected. Thus in the case of the believer,
how important it is that for building up there should be a real vitality in
relation to food.
So then, real life means appetite and discrimination, leading to strength
and capability. But it is also necessary to take an initial serious attitude
toward the food question. We can through carelessness fail to give the inner
man what he needs, and just allow him to be served up with mere pleasantries
in spiritual truth. Let us recognise that he
must have
wholesome and really nutritious food, and we should give
ourselves definitely to seeking this out. The essence of nourishment is Christ
Himself. Therefore the test of everything is whether it really ministers
Christ to us. Not, How much more do we know? or, Have a pleasant sensation,
but, How is it possible
to grow in the measure of
Christ?
First published in "A Witness and A Testimony"
magazine, Nov-Dec 1939, Vol. 17-6
Republished in "A Witness and A Testimony"
magazine, Mar-Apr 1953, Vol. 31-2