Nourishment from Our Father

Nourishment from Our Father

The other day as I checked out at a local department store I provided payment with a gift card I recently received over the Christmas holiday. However, the gift card didn’t have enough to cover the entire price of the purchase, so I used my credit card to pay the remaining balance. I didn’t dare short-change the cashier. That would be rude (and illegal).

Sometimes I think Christians short-change the gospel.

We mistakenly water down the gospel so that it only has to do with justification and justification alone. We make the gospel all about getting out of trouble, being forgiven so that we don’t have to be punished.

We water down the gospel into a get-out-of-jail-free card.

We mistakenly share the gospel as though it were simply a message about getting ourselves cleared in God’s courtroom of law. We too often make the gospel only about God declaring me innocent because Jesus has taken my place and paid my debt. Unfortunately, then, the gospel becomes a simple and easy way for us to get out of trouble and avoid eternal punishment in the hands of an angry God.

Don’t get me wrong. Yes, of course the gospel is about penal substitution. Yes, of course Jesus died for my sins. And yes, of course by faith in Jesus I am justified before God so that I no longer face any condemnation or punishment. Hallelujah! This is good news!

The gospel certainly is about justification. We are, through the gracious work of Christ, acquitted by God, and we are now free from condemnation. I praise God for this grace in which I now stand.

But that’s not the entirety of the gospel. The gospel doesn’t end with justification.

God doesn’t simply justify us so that we’re free to leave His courtroom, never to see Him again. No! Because He justifies us, He doesn’t let us go, but He immediately grabs hold of us and embraces us into His arms. He adopts us into His family, and He treats us like a loving Father.

Forgiveness and justification lead to the life-giving nourishment and care given by a loving Father who wants His children to experience everlasting joy and life.

Like a caring parent, God brings us home and provides for us through the whole course of our lives. And one of the most obvious ways that God provides for us is the same way in which any loving parent would care for their own children. He feeds us.

Through Jesus Christ, the bread of life (John 6:22-59), God provides for our nourishment. Christ is the only food for our soul, and, therefore, we are invited to him, that we would be refreshed by feasting on him, and that we may gather new strength to be faithful in obedience to Him.

What does it mean to “feast” on Jesus?

Notice how Jesus responded when the people said, “Sir, give us this bread.” He said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (Jn. 6:35).

To feast on Jesus means to continually “come to Him” and “believe in Him.”

In other words, we feast on Jesus by coming to Him daily by faith, listening to Him through the Word of God, and trusting Him in all that He says.

Feasting on Jesus through faith is our nourishment and satisfaction for life. We cannot find nourishment like this in anyone or anything else. As we eat of Him He satisfies us in every way.