32But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” [simple_tooltip content=’27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
28 The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men,
29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”
30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.
35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’
38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”
40 So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.
41 And many more believed because of His own word.
42 Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
43 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.
44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
45 So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.
46 So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.’](John 4:27-46)[/simple_tooltip]
Food is essential for life. Without it we can’t grow and remain healthy. We get strength and vitality from food; however, the wrong food can kill us. Improper diets have killed more people than any disease.
Our souls need nourishment too. The things we think on and the desires we have are food for our souls. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). He valued spiritual nourishment more than He valued physical nourishment. He was thrilled to see the Samaritan woman and the people of her town respond to His gift of salvation. His disciples had come with meat for Him to eat, but He said what nourished Him was people coming to Him for salvation.
Likewise, we should set our desires on the things of God so that spiritual matters are more important to us than physical ones. The wrong diet for our souls is the leading cause of failure and depression in the lives of Christians. The Bible says that being spiritually minded produces life and peace, but being carnally minded produces death [simple_tooltip content=’For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.’](Rom. 8:6)[/simple_tooltip]. In our health-conscious society, many of us wouldn’t dream of abusing our bodies with a poor diet; yet, we kill our souls by feeding on ungodly, worldly things.
Today, treat yourself to a healthy, spiritual meal. Read your Bible and get filled up with God’s Word. Then go to the mall and lead some people to Jesus. You will discover the “meat” Jesus loved more than any natural food.
