Lighthouse Keeper

Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.
1 Corinthians 10:17

The other day, I got my gardening friend to come and have a look at my soil. You see The Lighthouse has lovely gardens but I’m not much of a green thumbs so I needed a crash course. 

Soil. Parable of the sower. You need good soil (an open mind and heart) to receive the seed (Word of God. Matthew 13

I was convinced that was the issue and all I needed was a big load of top soil and I would have thriving trees and plants. Experienced gardener friend immediately said “ it’s not a soil issue-your soil is fine. Everything just needs a good feed”. 

Food. Fertiliser. So he rattled off some names and brands and off I went to the garden centre to buy half the store. I was delighted with this seemingly simple fix and went to it mixing potions to put on my well established plants. Fortunately, I had a quick Google before I started. 

Nitrophoska Blue is amazing on everything but not Proteas (I have Proteas)...

Citrus food for citrus but avoid winter and not against the trunk...

As I continued my investigation I quickly learned that if I had hit everything with equal doses of the blue stuff, I would have killed a quarter of my garden. What you feed is important. Timing is important. Seasons. 

Different plants need different food at different times. 

The primary source of food for the living Christian is the Word of God (The Bible) and the various ways it is communicated through writing, preaching and teaching, personal devotionals-that sort of thing. Paul talks about moving the church from living on milk (basic teachings), to solid food or meat (more complex teachings) 1 Corinthians 3:12. 

Jesus says “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35) and when we feed on Him through communion, prayer, reading and meditating on Scripture, fellowship with other Believers; we get spiritually nourished. Just like the human body, what you feed on will determine your spiritual health. 

I think we have to be careful as Christians that we don’t “food shame” other people who are either trying to learn about Christianity and Jesus or walking with the Lord already. 

When I first became a Christian, I read a lot of Philip Yancey and Max Lucado. I then became more hungry for the Word and changed up to John Piper teaching and preaching. After wandering back to the world, Jesus gave me the Joyce Meyer on-ramp back into the church and put me into the teaching hothouse that is Hillsong Sydney. I studied the Bible ravenously. Currently I’m reading a lot of NT Wright, Oswald Chambers, and Charles Spurgeon (and of course the Bible every morning and evening). I would consider all of these teachings good spiritual food. 

I went through a Bill Johnson YouTube preaching season. I love TD Jakes and Steven Furtick when I need some motivation. To say “well I go to a line-by-line Bible study so I’m a superior Christian to you” is silly. To say you “don’t need motivation and encouragement because you just need knowledge” is counter to Scripture (Hebrews 3:13). We all need variety in our diet and being a food snob about someone else’s journey in the Word (or your own) is limiting. 

I’ll go into more detail in another post about how I read the Bible but for now, just let people enjoy their time with the Lord in whatever form that takes. It might be a season they’re going through that you don’t have much idea about.  We all feed from the one loaf, the bread of life, in the living Word of Jesus. (1 Corinthians 10:17).