TLIC PROVERBS. APRIL 23: EAT.

Proverbs 9:1-5. ¹Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars. ²She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table. ³She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town, ⁴“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks sense she says, ⁵“Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.

Wisdom is throwing a house warming party! She has built her house and invited all the simple to come to her banquet to drink of her wine and eat of her bread. Only the gospel reveals the full implication of what it means to eat wisdom’s bread and drink wisdom’s wine. In John 6, Jesus invites us to eat the bread of his flesh and drink the wine of his blood.

John 6:51-55.  ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” ⁵²The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³So Jesus said to them, “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. ⁵⁴Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

To feast on Christ is to have eternal life. Why? Because Christ’s flesh is true food and his blood is true drink. Does this sound strange, gross, even offensive? Well, offensive it is. Eat Jesus’ body and drink his blood? That sounds creepy and confusing. But that’s not the offensive part. The offensive part is that there is only one source of truth, and it’s not you.

Live your truth? No. Live from his truth.

The feast of true wisdom, God’s wisdom, is only found in receiving and taking into yourself Christ’s life. Apart from taking the life of Christ into your life, you will always be simple and never wise. Apart from your union with Christ and his cross, you can never understand the meaning of life, the danger of your own simplicity, the desire of God’s heart, the depth of real love, or the value of self-sacrifice.

Eating is receiving. Eating is believing. Eating is trusting. To eat Christ’s body and drink his blood is to simply trust in him alone. It is to let his life satisfy you, sustain you, and energize you for the journey of this life and the transformation into his likeness that comes along the path.  

You: Are you looking for wisdom from any other source than Christ and his life? (Self-help, politics, news outlets, social media, religion)

You in Christ: What does eating and drinking Christ actually look like day to day? Remember, eating is believing?

Christ in you: What evidence of Christ in you do you see? In what ways have you transformed into his likeness over these past few months?

Pray: Father, feed me with the life of your Son, Jesus. Help me to trust him more each day as I grow into his likeness. Amen.