Many of you know that I spent this last month among some of the coolest children I have ever met. These kids were anointed, spirit filled, goofy, energetic, intelligent and dedicated (and so much more). They also happened to be orphans, but although these kids come from tragic pasts, they are some of the most well adjusted kids I have met. My teammate Spencer wrote a blog that you can read here that gives some more details about how awesome these kids are.
One thing I admired about these kids is the dedication in which they applied themselves to their studies. One afternoon I sat down with some of the older girls while they were studying. After about ten minutes of attempting to teach me the Burmese language, they began showing me the other things they were studying. As I was flipping through the Biology textbook I came across a graph of the human digestion process, and I was startled by the deep thoughts I began to have. It was an Grade 11 Biology book, I was not expecting in deep revelations from it. But there I was, having some deep thoughts.
I searched the internet trying to find a picture of the graph I saw, but I couldn’t even find one that was close. This is my best attempt to remake it.
Ingestion -> Digestion -> Egestion
-Absorption
-Nutrition
I started thinking about daily bread- not literal bread made from flour, oil, and eggs, but Spiritual Food that we receive from the Lord. Matthew 4 says: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” God gives us daily bread. But what do we do with it?
First we have to ingest it. Everyday we need to eat spiritual bread. Then we have to digest it. It is through this process that we absorb what we need and receive nutrients that sustain us. Don’t get me wrong, this is an incredibly important process. But, I think it is one that most people know is vital to an abundant and fruitful spiritual life. Today I want to talk for just a hot minute about egestion.
Now I am no scientist, but I do know that when the egestion process fails, your body stops processing the nutrients you are receiving properly, and if the problem persists, it is poison to the entire body.
The daily bread that we get from the Lord is meant to give a nourishment, but once we have absorbed what we need from it, we have to get rid of it. The Church is the body of Christ, and if we keep all of the nourishment we receive to ourselves, it is poison to that body.
We need to share our daily bread.
I’ll say it one more time to make sure it really sinks in: We need to share our daily bread.
The Lord does not give us daily bread to hoard for ourselves- we are meant to share it. Take what we need. I am reminded of the Israelites during their 40 years in the desert. The Lord gave them manna, but if they tried to get more than what they needed, it rotted. One way that we steward well the knowledge that the Lord gives us is to share it. Dont be the poison to the body, share what the Lord is giving you.
I know that this isn’t a perfect analogy, and if you look too closely at it, you may be able to pick it apart. But this is something that I have been thinking about for a few days. I wanted to share this daily bread with you, and encourage you to start sharing yours, and even asking other people for a piece of theirs.
Shalom.
