We do a lot of things on a daily basis to maintain our bodies.
We eat, we brush our teeth, we clean our bodies....Perhaps we're so used to doing these things that we don't give it much thought. But can you imagine missing a day or two...or missing a month or a year of nourishment & hygiene?
Then don't our souls need maintenance too? I know mine does...but I often over look it because I can't see it in the mirror. In all honesty I can feel the layers of grime growing on my soul. So it's high time for me to take a spiritual shower. To brush my spiritual teeth. To eat some spiritual food. (And get out of this spiritual rut I've been in since 1998...yes, I remember when the downhill slide began.)
Yesterday we studied the part in the Old Testament in which Moses led his people out of Egypt.
They came to a place where there was no food. The people started complaining. So Moses went to the Lord and the Lord sent them manna. He gave them specific instructions regarding the manna. He told them to gather manna every morning, but only enough to eat for that day. If they gathered any more than they needed, it would develop worms and rot and smell. They learned their lesson pretty quickly on that one.
Then on Friday, the day before the Sabbath, the Lord told them to gather enough manna for two days so that they wouldn't have to collect any on the Sabbath. Some people obeyed, but others, perhaps worried that the two-day supply of manna would rot, went to look for manna on Saturday morning but were upset when they found none. I imagine the people who went out on Saturday morning were the same people who experienced the rotting manna earlier in the week when they hadn't follow the Lord's instructions.
Manna can be compared to Christ as the bread of life. We're happiest and spiritually well-fed when we study his teachings and live by his examples. But we need to follow his instructions to a 'T'. To survive, we need to make Christ a part of our lives every day, like the people had to gather manna every day.
The joy I felt at church yesterday won't get me through the week, in much the same way that brushing my teeth yesterday won't give me fresh breath today. The food I ate yesterday won't sustain me today. I need to gather my manna, or the Bread of Life, every day if I want to survive happily.
It sounds so EASY but it's NOT!! And that's why I struggle.
