You Are What You Eat

Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life. ... For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. ... He who feeds on Me will live because of Me." (John 6:53-57 NKJV)

And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst."
(John 6:35 NKJV)

"Any animal or bird that may be eaten ... pour out its blood and cover it with dust; for it is the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, 'You shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood.' "
(Leviticus 17:13-14 NKJV)

The Israelite preparation of meat included taking the time to thoroughly cleanse it of the blood—of the animal’s life. Contrast Jesus—the Word made flesh—who tells us to feed on His flesh with the blood in it, that His life would become ours.

It would be easier to simply eat a wafer of bread and drink the fruit of the vine in sharing the communion of the Lord’s Table, and leave it at that. To feed on the flesh of the Word is to take time to thoroughly digest it, and to believe in it immediately, while it is fresh, with the life in it.

We are made in the image of God so that we will be like God. To feed on Jesus, the Word of God, is to fulfill the adage, "You are what you eat."

Lord Jesus, You alone are life. Your Spirit breathes in us. Your flesh of God's Word feeds us. Your blood both cleanses of the sin that kills and sustains Your life in our flesh. Please enable us to receive You in every way You give Yourself for us.

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Copyright 2008, Anne Lang Bundy