Ingest and Digest

8.4.2010

John 6:53 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ESV

Wow! That’s a mouthful! I’ve always been fascinated with Jesus’ words here in John 6. I’ve come to the conclusion that this chapter in John is one of the most pivotal chapters in all of Scripture. And Jesus’ words here make no equivocation – either we accept Him on His terms or we go away – those are the only two choices. The metaphor that the Lord uses of eating His flesh and drinking His blood is graphic but He makes His point – either you ingest Me and I become in you on the molecular level, or you starve to death.

Jesus isn’t advocating cannibalism but He is urging us to take Him into our lives as we would take in food, that as our bodies ingest and digest food, it becomes part of us – in the same way He becomes part of us; His life, presence, and power become us. When we eat something it goes beyond the senses in a way that our senses can only be a precursor. We must ‘eat’ Jesus in order that He becomes more than a texture, a sensation, an odor, sight, or sound.

Even the Lord’s metaphor falls short on us – but it’s no excuse not to take Him in and digest Him in our hearts so that all we are becomes who He is… When Jesus says, “Eat Me” He means it!

Lord God,

This one stretches me because I can’t fully express what I think I see other than to say to You, let me feast on all of who You are and what You’ve done. Let me delight in our moments together and fully digest You in my heart so that I may become all that You’ve created me to be in You; it’s the only way to take You in… amen.