“Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” 

This proverb came to mind somewhere after the ten-minute mark of Glenn’s sermon this week, when he was talking about Jesus’ tendency to include a lesson after he performed his miracles. The more I thought about this proverb, the more I found that it describes the idea that Glenn was trying to get across this week—God provides for both our physical hunger as well as our spiritual hunger. 

Let me explain my train of thought: It would be really easy for God to just “give us a fish to eat,” to just alleviate our spiritual hanger without really teaching us why or investing in us. Throughout the Bible, he has provided for the physical needs of his people; he gave them manna and quail while the Israelites wandered in the desert, then delivered them into the ‘Promised Land’ flowing with milk and honey. In the New Testament, Jesus turned a handful of fish and bread into enough food to feed thousands—on more than one occasion. Even today, we partake in “the Lord’s Supper,” sacraments of bread and wine given to us weekly as a reminder of the grace we received through Christ’s death. 

But addressing only our physical needs doesn’t really solve any problems. God desires a relationship with us, and designed us to crave a relationship with him. That’s where Jesus fits into the equation. For the sake of the proverb, we can call him our “fishing instructor.” The more we come to know Christ and to understand his teachings, the more he gives us the means to have our spiritual hunger satisfied. Christ teaches us how to eat—spiritually, that is—and how the Word satisfies our spiritual hunger.

I’ll close with two quotes. The first, I read in a church history class in college: <strong>”Never be so absorbed in external cares as to forget the inner life of the soul.”</strong> I can’t remember who said it but it’s stuck with me ever since I first read it. The second is a much less poetic print hanging on the side of my fridge: <strong>”Life’s too short to be hangry.”</strong> And I think they sum this whole thing up pretty nicely.
 

Listen