Eternal Approach

“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4)

We need our daily bread and we need the Bread of Life.

We need our daily water and we need the Living Water.

We are spiritual beings requiring more than physical nourishment. We need supernatural food in order to live supernatural lives.

Searching for Something Beyond This World

The needs of the “spiritual man” are too often neglected for the natural stuff we consume. The inner man must be fed as well.

This is one of those things we’ve all heard a thousand times before. We’ve heard it since that “first day of school” when we were just newborn babes in Christ.

Our need seems so blatantly obvious. But, for all practical purposes, we ignore it.

Because our lives are so easily moved to satisfy our physical and temporal concerns at the expense of our spiritual health.

I observe the younger generations closely — especially those in their 20s and 30s. Many have developed habits of meditation and quiet reflection to “center” and “clear” their minds. For the most part, they employ mystical techniques used by the Eastern religions.

Which have nothing whatsoever to do with biblical faith.

But this younger generation does understand one thing. Which is their need to tap-in to something beyond this world. That they need a power that will help them in their lives.

Tragically, they are entering into a spiritual realm which draws them into deep deception. This comes from the influence of demonic entities. Devils masquerading as “angels of light” or “ascended masters”. Often giving them profound and seductive experiences. For a season.

Looking for the “Higher Self”

All of this is simply leading these young people into deeper selfishness and away from Christ. And, for many, into a dark spiritual bondage from which they may never escape.

They believe that in finding one’s higher self a person will find peace, joy and fulfillment in life.

But the self-absorbed man is like someone looking for a beautiful garden in a dump. He refuses to understand that, in man — in his own self — is only sin and corruption.

That is the condition of the lost man without Christ. Looking for good in all the wrong places.

Like a blind man in a coal bin at midnight looking for a black cat that isn’t there.

A Bag of Magic Beans or a Bag of Power?

And even for the Christian who has Christ dwelling within him, there tends to be this foolish preoccupation with tapping in to something that God has already condemned. Trying to do rehab and improve ourselves.

Because even as believers, the only good thing within us is Christ. The Lord in us is our “good thing”. He is the source of all that is good.

We are not some separate Christian person that now has the “power” to be good. Only Christ Himself has the power. He has infinite power.

Which we have no stinking idea how to use.

The power we have been given is all in the Person of Christ. It is not something like electricity or energy as a separate thing which we must tap into as we try to live good lives for Him.

The truth is that the Christian will not find good within himself. His inner search for a good self or other good resources to be a good person will produce nothing but grief. Because our goodness does not come from ourselves.

Jesus Christ has cleansed us and sealed us by His Spirit. Making us perfect in His sight.

Not because of what we are. Not because of what we do or have done. But because of who He is. And because of what He has declared us to be. Even though we may see little evidence of that.

Christ has become our Life, our Righteousness, our Sanctification, our Holiness, our Wisdom, our Redemption. It is the Lord Himself that we should be seeking, even when we desire to please Him. Because He is the only One that can live the life in us that He has commanded us to live!

Whose Will Power are We Talking About?

Where do we get the motivation to please God? Such as that “will” which Paul spoke of. “For I know that in me (that is in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” (Romans 7:18)

We have been taught that we can achieve anything by creating the motivation and the direction within ourselves. So that it becomes a process of manipulating our will and focusing it in the proper direction.

Just pick up some secular books like The Psychology of Winning or Think and Grow Rich. There it is all laid out for us. There we will find the “magical” techniques of visualization and habit development to achieve our dreams.

However, for the Christian, the idea that we can change our will and change our habits and change our self to do God’s work is a lie of the religions of this world. It is a lie based on the principles and elements of this world and not on Christ (Read Colossians).

The bottom line: This world has nothing to offer us. We are here to finish our work and to move on to the Kingdom that Christ is preparing for us.

That means we must receive our nourishment and life from somewhere else.

As a man on the moon is dependent on the oxygen he carries on his back, we also must be dependent on Christ, moment by moment, to live and breathe in His Eternal atmosphere.

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being;” (Acts 17:28)