The Sunday Special

Unless we're purposely fasting, we need frequent nourishment - preferably three "squares" a day. Yet would you believe that millions of people in the United States try to live all week on nothing more than "Sunday dinner"?

I'm referring to the feast their pastor spreads before them. Many people seem to think their preacher's weekly sermon is all the spiritual food they need for the next seven days. But if you don't open your Bible Monday through Saturday, you're subsisting on a WEAK WEEK DIET. It's really a starvation diet.

God never intended for us to be food critics who just visit a spiritual restaurant once a week to render our opinion of the service. He wants us to be feasting daily on His Word. Job said, "I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food" (Job 23:12). The psalmist said, "How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" (Psalms 119:103).

Eating His Words

The Lord Jesus, quoting from Deuteronomy, said, "It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God'" (Luke 4:4). The prophet Jeremiah said, "Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart" (Jeremiah 15:16). Peter said, "As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby" (1 Peter 2:2).

The Bible likens itself to our necessary food, bread, honey, milk, and meat. God wants us to chew on His Word, internalize and assimilate it into all parts of our spiritual life. We become what we're eating, and six days between meals makes one weak.

Remember those noble Bereans who searched the Scriptures daily in Acts 17:11? The book of Proverbs says, "Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors" (Proverbs 8:34).

It takes determination and effort, but there's no reason we can't feed our soul everyday on the Word of God. After all, if we can feed our bodies every day, can we not feed our soul?

Cooking Lessons

If the Bible is food for the inner man and Bible study is akin to cooking, then I think some of us need cooking lessons. Simply put, the best way to learn to cook is to start cooking; and the best way to feed yourself every day with the Scripture is to just begin doing it. Open your Bible to where you left off the day before, ask God to speak to you, and take a pencil and circle, underline, or mark any verse or phrase that speaks to you. Meditate on it. Pray over it. Ask God to assimilate it into your spirit like food being absorbed into your body.

A regular diet of Bible verses, cooked from scratch and served fresh each day, gives us strength for the journey. It gives us encouragement each morning. It imparts peace each evening. It develops within us wisdom and gives us something to share with others. Most of all, it draws us close to the Lord, enabling us to "practice His presence."

There are some days when my quiet time is more meaningful than others; but even on days when I'm tired and rushed, I dare not miss my devotional time with the Lord. I need His presence and His Word every day. It's food for the soul; and without it, I grow weak.

Don't try to live all week on your church's Sunday roast. Learn to feed each day from the Bread of Life.

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