Food that gives eternal life.

The Lord Jesus understands that we have to work. He was not telling the thousands of men who came looking for Him in Capernaum that they were not to work any longer. The Apostle Paul wrote, "If anyone will not work, neither let him eat."

Sometimes Christians get the idea that living by faith means not working and expecting other people to support you. That is not what living by faith means. Living by faith means looking to God for our decisions rather than trusting in our own abilities.

In America we place our physical survival and comforts above most other considerations. The Lord Jesus is telling us food is available that will give us eternal life. He is saying we must work for this food.

If I am not mistaken, we ordinarily think of eternal life as eternal existence. If we believe in Christ we will exist forever. If we don't believe in Christ we will not exist forever. On the other hand, we believe people will exist forever in the Lake of Fire for eternity. Perhaps we have not thought enough about this.

In actuality, eternal life is not eternal existence. It is not related to time. As nearly as I can tell, time as we know it is not a part of the spirit realm.

Eternal life is produced by Divine food. Eternal life comes from something we eat, not from a doctrine we believe. Isn't this what the Lord is telling us? Ordinary physical life comes from food. The body takes the nutrients and makes cells. Then the cells are burned in the presence of oxygen, and this is our life. Kind of frail, isn't it? No more oxygen no more life—at least no more physical life. Then our spiritual nature goes somewhere.

We usually don't think of eating and drinking eternal life. But this is how we receive eternal life. We eat the flesh of Christ and drink His blood. There is no other eternal life. Jesus Christ is the Tree of Life, just as He was in the Garden of Eden.

But we have to labor to eat this food because the forces of darkness desire that we remain spiritually dead. We have to conquer these dark forces through the Lord Jesus Christ if we are to gain access to the Tree of Life.

Every day of our Christian life we fight this battle. Every day we are pressed by the demands of the world and our flesh. Every day we have to pray and strive to walk the problem-filled path that leads to eternal life. We have to lay hold on eternal life, as the Apostle Paul told Timothy.

Eternal life is the Life of God. It is in the Lord Jesus Christ because the Father has placed His seal of approval on Christ.

To be continued.